Padres shut down Astros offense behind Darvish's gem
San Diego's ace delivers another strong outing as Padres take series opener
Merrill and Profar provide offensive support with solo home runs
Yu Darvish turned in another dominant performance on the mound as the San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros 3-1 in the series opener at Petco Park on Tuesday night. Darvish allowed just one run on four hits and two walks while striking out nine batters in six innings of work. Jorge Merrill and Esteury Profar provided the offensive support with solo home runs, while the Padres bullpen turned in a solid performance to close out the game. The Padres took an early lead in the bottom of the first inning when Merrill crushed a 1-0 sinker from Astros starter Luis Garcia over the wall in right-center field. The home run was Merrill's second of the season and gave the Padres a 1-0 lead. Darvish settled in after allowing a leadoff single to Jeremy Pena in the top of the first, retiring the next nine batters he faced. The Astros finally got to Darvish in the fourth inning when Kyle Tucker singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a groundout by Yordan Alvarez. Alex Bregman then singled to left to score Tucker and tie the game at 1-1. The Padres regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when Profar hit a solo homer off Garcia. The home run was Profar's third of the season and gave the Padres a 2-1 lead. Darvish allowed a one-out single to Pena in the sixth, but he was able to get out of the inning without any further damage. He finished his outing with 98 pitches, 64 of which were strikes. The Padres bullpen turned in a solid performance to close out the game, with Nabil Crismatt, Pierce Johnson, and Taylor Rogers combining to allow just one hit and one walk over the final three innings. Rogers earned his 12th save of the season by striking out the side in the ninth inning. With the win, the Padres improved to 44-38 on the season, while the Astros fell to 46-35. The two teams will face off again in the second game of the series on Wednesday night.
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