Yu Darvish fired six scoreless innings while Jurickson Profar and Jackson Merrill homered as the San Diego Padres edged the visiting Houston Astros 3-1 on Monday night.
Darvish (6-3) gave up three hits and two walks, striking out three while throwing 53 of his 79 pitches for strikes in his best performance since coming off the injured list on Sept. 4. Three relievers covered the final three innings, with Robert Suarez pitching the ninth for his 33rd save in 38 chances this season.
Spencer Arrighetti (7-13) absorbed the loss after allowing eight hits and two runs over five innings, issuing one walk and recording three strikeouts. The result ended Houston’s four-game winning streak.
San Diego (86-65) upped its lead on Arizona for the National League’s first wild-card spot to 2 1/2 games, as the Diamondbacks lost 3-2 to the Colorado Rockies earlier Monday. The Padres remained 3 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, who beat the Atlanta Braves 9-0.
San Diego took a quick 1-0 lead with some two-out production in the first. Profar doubled for the first of his four hits, and Manny Machado followed by ripping an RBI double into the left field corner.
Merrill made it 2-0 in the fourth, ambushing Arrighetti’s first-pitch fastball and driving it an estimated 413 feet to center for his 24th homer of the year.
The Astros made their push in the top of the eighth. Jose Altuve led off with a double and scored on Yordan Alvarez’s single to center. Two errors helped Houston push runners to first and third with two outs, but Tanner Scott slipped a called third strike past Victor Caratini to end the threat.
Profar capped the scoring in the bottom of the eighth with a leadoff homer to right, his 23rd long ball of the season.