Yu Darvish had an impressive performance in his first game back after being out for over three months. Rookie Jackson Merrill and Jurickson Profar hit home runs, helping the San Diego Padres defeat the Houston Astros 3-1 on Monday night.
With this win, the Padres gained a 2 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the top National League wild card spot and remain 3 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are in first place in the NL West.
Houston’s lead in the AL West decreased to four games over the Seattle Mariners, who were not playing.
Padres leadoff hitter Luis Arraez struck out for the first time since August 10, ending a streak of 141 plate appearances without a strikeout. He struck out against rookie Spencer Arrighetti to close the second inning.
This strikeout tied Arraez with Padres Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn for the fifth-longest streak without a strikeout in the last 40 years. Gwynn had the longest streak, with 170 plate appearances in 1995.
Arraez, who was serving as the designated hitter, later left the game due to a knee injury. He was hurt on a slide when he was tagged out at home plate in the fifth inning.
Although he stayed in to hit a double in the seventh, he walked off the field carefully after being replaced by pinch-runner Tyler Wade.
“He jammed his knee in the plate,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Reports are stable, sore. You could tell after he legged out the double.”
Shildt praised Arraez, saying, “What a gamer,” and added that Arraez told him before his at-bat in the seventh, “I can hit.”
Darvish (6-3) gave up three hits in six scoreless innings, marking his longest outing in three starts since returning from the injured list. He struck out three batters and walked two.
Shildt praised Darvish’s performance, saying, “He was great. He was really fantastic. Very efficient, controlled counts, the fastball had a life to it. I thought he was vintage Yu.
He was tremendous. Got us through six and we could have kept him in longer, but he was at that number. He’d done his part.” Darvish threw 79 pitches during the game.
The tall right-handed pitcher said through an interpreter that he felt “pretty good.” He noted that his two-seam fastball was effective and he relied on it a lot. His off-speed pitches also worked well.
Regarding starting a series with playoff stakes, Darvish commented, “You try to kind of not put too much pressure on yourself, but obviously, you’re going against a really good team so you’re super focused and trying to execute pitches.”
Darvish mentioned that he is getting closer to having no limits on his pitch count. “I would think so, as far as the number of pitches go,” he said. Robert Suarez completed the ninth inning without allowing any runs, earning his 33rd save.
Profar hit a leadoff home run in the eighth inning, his 23rd of the season, and it was his fourth consecutive hit. He was one triple away from hitting for the cycle.
Merrill kept up his strong performance for the NL Rookie of the Year award by hitting a home run on the first pitch from Arrighetti in the fourth inning, estimated at 413 feet to straightaway center field.
It was his 24th home run, tying him with Nate Colbert (1969) for second place among Padres rookies. Hunter Renfroe holds the record with 26 home runs in 2017.
Colbert’s franchise record of 163 home runs, which had been in place since 1974, was surpassed by Manny Machado last week. Machado also hit an RBI double in the first inning.
For Houston, Jose Altuve hit a double to lead off the eighth inning and scored on a single by Yordan Alvarez. Arrighetti (7-13) gave up two runs and eight hits in five innings, with three strikeouts and one walk.
