"Tim Leiper is a moron" - Padres fans call for 3B coach to be fired after Jackson Merrill's bold decision of ignoring him pays off vs Marlins

San Diego Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill was in the thick of action during the National League West team's series opener against the Miami Marlins on Monday.

During the second inning of the game, Jackson Merrill reached first base with an RBI single, driving in Xander Bogaerts from third to open the scoring for the Padres. In the same inning, Merrill dashed from first base to reach home plate after Martin Maldonado's hit to left field.

While Merrill drove in the Padres' second run of the game with his play, it could have been very different if he had listened to third base coach Tim Leiper. When Merrill reached third during his dash, Leiper made a stop signal for the All-Star outfielder. However, Merrill ignored the sign and continued his dash to the home plate.

Padres fans bashed the 3B coach after the game as Merrill's play helped San Diego to a 2-1 win.

"He’s also a genius for realizing Leiper is a moron and ignoring him," wrote a fan.

"Fire Tim Leiper," wrote another fan.

" Well done Jackson, tell Leiper to fu** himself," expressed a disgruntled fan.

The backlash for Leiper continued.

"Tim Leiper is such a dumbass he’s gotta go," wrote another fan.

"Leiper is so bad at his job," shared another fan.

Jackson Merrill has no "regret" over ignoring third base coach's stop signal

After his crucial play between the bases, Jackson Merrill said he didn't "regret" ignoring the signal from the third base coach as it lead to the winning run of the series opener.

“I was already going fast,” Merrill said. “If I stopped, I was gonna be thrown out at third. So I just kept going. And it happened to be the winning run, so I don’t regret doing it at all. Even if I got thrown out, I wouldn’t have regretted it.”

After a two-run burst in the second inning, the Padres bullpen stood firm with Adrian Morejón, Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam and Robert Suarez going scoreless over four combined innings.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash