Merrill, Profar Help Padres Stop Houston Astros 3-1

Jackson Merrill and Jurickson Profar slammed solo home runs on Monday night, lifting the San Diego Padres past the Houston Astros 3-1 at Petco Park. Merrill’s homer came in the fourth inning off Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti, traveling an estimated 413 feet to straightaway center field. Profar hit a leadoff home run in the eighth inning, giving him 23 for the season.

On the night, Profar ended up falling a triple shy of putting together a cycle.

Houston Astros See AL Lead Trimmed

Photo byCorey WatsononUnsplash

The loss trimmed the Astros’ lead in the American League West Division over the Seattle Mariners to four games. Seattle was idle on Monday night.

Arrighetti falls to 7-13 this season for the Houston Astros. He only allowed two earned runs in five innings of work. Arrighetti also struck out three Padres and walked one.

But Monday night’s game and winning decision went to veteran pitcher Yu Darvish (6-3). Darvish is rounding back into midseason form even though the MLB season is in its last few weeks. He spent an extended period of time on the injured list and restricted list. But Darvish was lights out against the Astros, The Associated Press reported.

He went six scoreless innings, allowing just three of the Astros’ six total hits on Monday night. Darvish also struck out three and walked two in his night of work. Darvish’s outing is something Padres manager Bob Melvin can look at as a positive. Monday night’s victory helped San Diego take a 2 1/2-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League wild-card race. The Padres are now 3 1/2 games behind the NL West Division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.

Padres reliever Robert Suarez came on in the ninth inning, retiring the Astros in order for his 33rd save this season.

Merrill now has 24 homers as a rookie for San Diego. He’s now tied with Nate Colbert, who hit 24 homers as a Padres rookie in 1969, for second place among San Diego rookie home run numbers. Merrill now has Hunter Renfroe’s total in his sights. Renfroe smacked 26 homers in 2017.

Jose Altuve Scores Astros’ Lone Run

Manny Machado got the Padres on the board in the first inning with an RBI double.

As for the Astros’ run, second baseman Jose Altuve led off the eighth inning with a double. Yordan Alvarez connected for a sharp single up the middle, scoring Altuve. The Astros’ offense was nonexistent on Monday night. They could not put together key scoring moments against the Padres’ pitchers.

The series continues on Tuesday night in San Diego. The Astros will send Hunter Brown (11-8, 3.59 ERA) out against San Diego’s Michael King (12-9, 3.06).

In Astros’ injury news, outfielder Ben Gamel is dealing with a knee bruise. Gamel was pulled from Houston’s win on Saturday against the Los Angeles Angels. Gamel made a running catch down in the right-field corner of Angels Stadium, slamming into the lower wall. He sustained a left knee contusion. Astros manager Joe Espada said, according to MLB.com, on Sunday that Gamel’s knee didn’t feel as good as they had hoped. So, Gamel was kept out of action on Sunday.

First baseman Jon Singleton did make a plate appearance as a pinch hitter on Monday night. But he was not in Sunday’s lineup due to an illness. Singleton’s ability to hit late in Monday night’s game probably was a good sign to Espada that his slugging infielder is good to go.

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Article originally written by Joe Rutland