Tatis, Machado Lead Padres Past Giants at Oracle Park

SAN FRANCISCO (Interstat) — Fernando Tatis Jr. had three hits and drove in two runs, Manny Machado homered and drove in two more, and the San Diego Padres completed a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants with a 6-4 victory Sunday at Oracle Park.

San Diego improved to 81-68. San Francisco fell to 62-88. The Padres won their third straight against the Giants after taking the first two games of the series by 7-5 and 7-6 scores. San Diego finished with nine hits, matching San Francisco’s nine, but the Padres made the most of their early chances and held off a late push by the Giants. The Padres have won eight of the 10 meetings between the teams this season.

The Padres jumped on San Francisco starter Logan Webb in the first inning. Tatis singled to center, Dustin Harris singled to center to move Tatis to third, and Manny Machado walked to load the bases. After Luis Campusano popped out on the infield fly rule, Jackson Merrill doubled sharply to left field. Tatis and Harris scored on the play, and Machado went to third. Webb escaped further damage when Xander Bogaerts popped out and Jake Cronenworth struck out swinging, but San Diego had a 2-0 lead.

San Diego added to its advantage in the second. Samad Taylor singled to left, and after Ethan Salas struck out, Tatis singled to center to score Taylor. Harris grounded out to move Tatis to second, and Machado followed with a two-run homer to left field. The homer, Machado’s 27th of the season, gave the Padres a 5-0 cushion.

San Francisco answered in the bottom of the second. Jonah Cox and Scott Bandura struck out before Shay Whitcomb singled to right. Andrew Knizner then homered to left field, his second of the season, bringing Whitcomb home and cutting San Diego’s lead to 5-2.

The Padres got that run back in the fourth. Samad Taylor grounded out, but Ethan Salas tripled to center. Tatis then singled to center to score Salas, pushing the San Diego lead to 6-2. The Giants threatened in the bottom of the fourth when Bryce Eldridge and Cox singled and Whitcomb singled to load the bases, but Knizner lined out to left and Brett Harris flew out to center, ending the inning without a run.

San Francisco chipped away in the fifth. Christian Koss singled, Drew Gilbert walked, and Jung Hoo Lee popped out. Eldridge grounded out to second, scoring Koss and moving Gilbert to third. Cox then grounded out to end the inning with San Diego ahead 6-3.

The Giants pulled closer in the sixth. Bandura singled and advanced to second on a throwing error by Bogaerts. Whitcomb grounded out, and Drew Cavanaugh walked. Turner Hill struck out, but Koss singled to center to score Bandura. Cavanaugh tried to score on the play, but a fielder’s choice sequence ended with him out at home. The play went from Bogaerts to Tatis to catcher Freddy Fermin to Machado to Cronenworth, and San Francisco settled for one run, making it 6-4.

In the seventh, Jung Hoo Lee, Eldridge and Cox went down in order for San Francisco. San Diego went quietly in the eighth on a popout, a groundout and a flyout. The Giants put two runners on in the eighth when Bandura walked and Turner Hill walked, but Whitcomb flew out, Cavanaugh struck out and Koss flew out to center. In the ninth, Cronenworth singled for San Diego, but Jase Bowen struck out and Fermin grounded into a double play. The Giants got a two-out single from Eldridge in the bottom half, and he advanced to second on a fielding error by Merrill, but Cox struck out swinging to end it.

Neither team scored the rest of the way. San Diego’s bullpen kept the Giants off the board over the final three innings. San Francisco’s Matt Wilkinson delivered the most notable relief performance of the game, throwing three scoreless innings with one hit allowed and two strikeouts. Yuki Matsui pitched a scoreless ninth for San Diego, allowing one hit and striking out one, to earn his first save of the season.

Wandy Peralta earned the win in relief for San Diego, improving to 3-2. He worked 1.1 scoreless innings without allowing a hit and struck out one. Logan Webb took the loss for San Francisco, falling to 8-9. Nick Pivetta started for the Padres and allowed two earned runs on five hits over four innings with five strikeouts. Randy Vásquez threw a scoreless inning with no hits and one strikeout. David Morgan recorded two outs with one hit and one strikeout. Trent Harris added a scoreless inning for San Francisco with no hits and one strikeout.

Tatis finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs. Machado went 1 for 3 with a home run and two RBIs. Merrill had the two-run double. Knizner went 1 for 2 with a home run and two RBIs for San Francisco. Eldridge, Cox, Whitcomb and Koss each had hits for the Giants as part of their nine-hit attack. The Giants finished with nine hits but left multiple runners on base in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth.

San Diego pitchers combined for 14 strikes, 43 balls and 14 balls in play. San Francisco pitchers combined for 11 strikes, 54 balls and 11 balls in play. The game took 3 hours, 3 minutes and drew 35,115 to Oracle Park.

The Padres continue their road trip at Colorado on Monday. The Giants open a series at St. Louis on Monday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of San Diego Padres 6, San Francisco Giants 5. Interstat’s ELO system had projected San Diego with a 59.5 percent probability to win. San Diego had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 10 went under the over/under line of 7.5.