Padres beat Astros after good overall night – San Diego Union-Tribune

It was a good night for a team so close to its goal that it could be influenced by events thousands of miles away.

The Padres came close to that goal before Yu Darvish returned to near his best form and built a lead that, despite a few missed opportunities and a big scare, led to a 3-1 victory over the Astros on Monday night.

Before the games at Petco Park, the Braves’ 9-0 loss to the Dodgers was already a foregone conclusion. That meant the Padres’ magic number over the Braves – any combination of Padres wins and Braves losses that ensures Atlanta can’t overtake them in the standings – would drop to seven by the end of the night. (Their magic total, allowing for a possible three-way tie with the Mets, is eight.)

And while the Padres and Astros were playing, the Rockies pulled off a comeback win over the Diamondbacks, meaning the Padres also moved closer to winning a home series in the first round of the playoffs. Their lead over the Diamondbacks in the race for the first wild-card spot is now 2½ games.

“Everyone knows we have a really good team, especially right now,” Luis Arraez said. “We’re competitive, man. We have everything to win. We just have to stay healthy. If we stay healthy, we can do a lot of good things.”

Arraez made the statement while standing in the Padres’ locker room after his left knee was examined following a play at the plate that ultimately led to his ejection from the game.

The Padres’ leadoff hitter was at bat for two innings after injuring his knee on a home run in the fifth inning, but he limped to second base after a double and was replaced by a pinch-runner. The preliminary report said the knee was “stable,” according to manager Mike Shildt, and Arraez predicted he will be in the lineup Tuesday.

Arraez’s injury wasn’t the only scare on the way to the Padres’ fourth consecutive win.

Darvish’s six scoreless innings and a scoreless seventh by Jason Adam were followed by a run by Tanner Scott in the eighth inning. But after Jurickson Profar got that run back with a home run in the bottom of the eighth, Robert Suarez rebounded from his game-tying home run on Sunday in the ninth inning to make it 1-2-3 on Monday.

The Padres were leading practically from the start.

Two out doubles from Profar and Manny Machado gave the Padres a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

They repeatedly needed long at-bats – four of which lasted at least eight pitches between the second and third innings – and Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti managed as many as 73 pitches in three innings.

But he left runners on first and second base by ending the second inning with Arraez’s first strikeout since Aug. 10, a span of 141 batting appearances.

Profar hit a one-out single on the eighth pitch of his at-bat in the third inning, but Arrighetti struck out Machado after eight pitches and catcher Victor Caratini threw out Profar in an attempt to steal the ball.

Arrighetti made it through the fourth inning with 10 pitches, but Jackson Merrill hit the first of them an estimated 413 feet to center field to make it 2-0.

Darvish had thrown only 33 pitches after three innings and 46 after four innings. The Astros had two baserunners, a walk and a single up to that point.

Darvish threw just 63 pitches in each of his first two starts after a three-month layoff due to an elbow injury and a family matter.

Shildt kept the bullpen on alert in the fifth inning after Jeremy Peña issued a one-out walk and Mauricio Dubón issued a two-out infield single, but Darvish ended the inning by getting Altuve to stand with a fielder’s choice grounder.

The Padres gave Arrighetti another escape in the bottom of the fifth inning, failing to score despite consecutive one-out singles by Arraez, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Profar.

On the last of those balls, a sinking liner to left field, third baseman coach Tim Leiper sent Arraez home, where he was taken out of the game after a perfect throw from Jason Heyward to Caratini. On the play, Arraez appeared to have hit the ground with his right knee as he did a sort of sideways somersault over Caratini.

He lay there for a few minutes while athletic trainer Ben Fraser checked on him. Arraez eventually went back to the dugout unaided and hit a double with two outs in the seventh inning.

“I’m feeling better,” Arraez said after the game. “… I thought I had something there, but it’s inflammation. It’s not a big deal. Let’s see what happens when I wake up. But I’ll be there.”

Note: This article originally listed Arraez’s injured knee as his right knee.

Originally published: September 16, 2024 at 21:31