Padres ride on course for success in the middle game against Astros

The San Diego Padres are 21 games over .500 for the first time in 14 years.

They will look to improve that number on Tuesday night when they enter the middle game of a three-game series against the visiting Houston Astros on a four-game winning streak.

San Diego started the series between the playoff contenders with a 3-1 win on Monday night, with Yu Darvish throwing six scoreless innings and solo home runs from Jackson Merrill and Jurickson Profar (4-for-4). Aside from two consecutive errors to start the eighth inning, the Padres looked like an October contender.

“Everyone knows we have a really good team, especially right now,” said San Diego first-baseman Luis Arraez. “We're competitive, man. We have everything it takes to win. We just have to stay healthy. If we stay healthy, we can do a lot of good things.”

Arraez gave San Diego a bit of a scare in that regard on Monday night, when he came out limping after being thrown out on Profar's single to left at the plate in the fifth inning. After Arraez hit a double in the seventh inning, manager Mike Shildt took him in for a pinch runner, but the two-time batting champion said after the game that he would be in the lineup on Tuesday.

The Padres (86-65) have a 2 1/2 game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks (83-67) to hold the National League's first wild-card spot, which gives them home-field advantage in the wild-card round. San Diego is 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers (89-61) in the NL West.

The Padres will look to continue their run — they are 36-15 since July 20 — thanks to Michael King (12-9, 3.06 ERA). The right-hander last pitched on Wednesday, losing 5-2 at Seattle after allowing three runs (one earned) and striking out six runs in five innings.

King is 3-1 with a 2.61 ERA in six career games (one start) against Houston, all as a pitcher for the New York Yankees.

The Astros (81-69) will counter with right-hander Hunter Brown (11-8, 3.59 ERA), who was coming off a 5-4 loss to Oakland on Wednesday, allowing nine hits and five runs in five innings. He walked once and struck out seven times.

“I thought they just beat me there,” Brown said after the A's game. “Coming in, I knew I had to compete tonight. I gave up the lead for the second time in the game … that was tough.”

In his only career appearance against the Padres, Brown allowed six hits and six runs in 4 1/3 innings and suffered a loss on September 8, 2023.

Houston's lead in the American League West over Seattle (77-73), which was sidelined on Monday, shrank to four games after its opening loss at San Diego. The Astros still appear to be in a good position, however, having won the previous four games.

The Astros' lineup would be more difficult if Kyle Tucker could regain his swing after returning from a broken tibia earlier this month. In nine games since coming off the injured list, he has a .259 batting average (7-for-27) with one home run and three RBIs.

–Field level media