Manny Machado homered, Fernando Tatis Jr. accumulated three hits, two runs and two RBIs, and the visiting San Diego Padres completed a three-game sweep of San Francisco with a 6-4 victory Sunday night to cap a day on which the Giants announced Rafael Devers would be lost for the season.
By extending their winning streak to seven, the Padres (81-68) extended their lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks (79-71) to 2 1/2 games with two weeks remaining in their duel for the third and final wild-card playoff spot in the National League.
The Padres jumped out to a big early lead — 5-0 in the second inning — and held on thanks to strong bullpen work down the stretch.
Tatis and Dustin Harris led off the game against Giants ace Logan Webb with consecutive singles, and both scored on a one-out double by Jackson Merrill.
Tatis’ second single drove in a run in the second inning, after which he jogged home thanks to Machado’s 27th homer, a two-run shot that increased the San Diego lead to 5-0.
After Andrew Knizner’s second homer of the year in the bottom of the second got the Giants within 5-2, Tatis capped the Padres’ scoring with an RBI single in the fourth. Ethan Salas, who had been 0-for-15 in his major league career, tripled ahead of Tatis’ third hit.
Padres starter Nick Pivetta allowed two runs and five hits during his 69-pitch stint over four innings, striking out five. Webb (8-9) was charged with six runs on eight hits on a 92-pitch night, walking one and striking out seven in five innings.
Playing without Devers, who is suffering from a core-muscle injury, Christian Koss singled, stole two bases and scored in the fifth inning, then singled home a run in the sixth, helping the Giants get back within 6-4.
Padres reliever Wandy Peralta (3-2) took over at that point and combined with Randy Vasquez and Yuki Matsui on 3 1/3 innings of shutout ball, locking down the win. Matsui struck out Jonah Cox representing the potential tying run to end the game and secure his second career save.
In completing a 9-4 season-series win over the Giants, the Padres were matched 9-9 in total hits, but got the better of the hosts with runners in scoring position, going 4-for-10 while San Francisco was just 2-for-13.
Bryce Eldridge and Shay Whitcomb had two hits apiece for San Francisco (62-88), which completed a six-game homestand with three wins in a sweep over the St. Louis Cardinals and the three subsequent losses to the Padres.
–Field Level Media
