SAN DIEGO — Jackson Merrill continued his second-half surge with his 17th home run of the season and Michael King delivered six strong innings as the San Diego Padres held off the Houston Astros, 3-2, on Saturday night at Petco Park.
The victory evened the three-game weekend series and improved San Diego to 61-57 as the Padres gained ground in the National League wild-card race. Houston fell to 60-58 and saw its lead atop the American League West shrink to just a half-game.
Merrill was in the middle of the Padres' offense from the beginning. Fernando Tatis Jr. opened the bottom of the first with a walk, Jake Cronenworth singled and Ty France walked to load the bases. Merrill followed with a ground ball that resulted in a forceout but allowed Tatis to score and give San Diego a 1-0 lead.
Houston answered in the second when former Padres outfielder Taylor Trammell hit his seventh home run of the season, a two-out solo shot off King that tied the game.
The tie didn't last long.
Merrill came to the plate in the third and drove a pitch from Astros starter Peter Lambert 421 feet for a solo home run to center field, putting San Diego back in front, 2-1. The homer continued a remarkable turnaround for Merrill, who hit .213 with eight homers over his first 81 games but has become one of the Padres' hottest hitters over the past several weeks.
Merrill is hitting .372 over his last 20 games with seven home runs, 11 extra-base hits and 16 runs scored. He is also one of only five major league players this season with more than 15 home runs and 20 stolen bases.
“Just being on time, being aggressive, trying to win an at-bat,” Merrill told reporters of his recent turnaround. “Each time going up there, don't think of anything but getting a good pitch to hit.”
San Diego added what proved to be an important insurance run in the fourth. Gavin Sheets led off with a single and eventually scored when Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña committed a fielding error on a ball hit by Tatis, extending the Padres' advantage to 3-1.
That was enough support for King.
King (7-8) allowed just one run on three hits over six innings while striking out six and walking one. After Trammell's homer, King settled in and retired his final seven batters. It was an encouraging performance for a Padres rotation that added Robbie Ray and Casey Mize at the trade deadline but has struggled to find consistency.
“I made a mistake with Trammell … he was on the heater,” King told reporters. “But besides that, it was pretty good.”
The Padres bullpen kept Houston off the scoreboard until the ninth, although the Astros had an opportunity to change the game when they loaded the bases in the seventh and failed to score. Houston finished 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven runners.
Mason Miller took the mound in the ninth and the Astros made him work for the final three outs. Christian Walker was hit by a pitch and eventually reached third before Yainer Diaz delivered a two-out RBI single to cut San Diego's lead to 3-2.
But Miller recovered, getting pinch-hitter LaMonte Wade Jr. to ground out to end the game and preserve the Padres' one-run victory. Miller earned his 29th save of the season.
Lambert (8-6) took the loss despite keeping Houston within striking distance. He allowed three runs — two earned — on five hits over five innings, striking out three and walking three.
The Padres will now have a chance to win the series Sunday while Houston enters the finale with its hold on first place becoming increasingly precarious. The Astros had gone 12-3 before dropping their previous series against Toronto, and Saturday's loss combined with Texas' fourth consecutive victory cut Houston's AL West advantage to a half-game.
Astros right-hander Cristian Javier (1-2, 6.59 ERA) is scheduled to start Sunday's series finale. The Padres have not announced their starter.