The Padres rolled to the midpoint of the season.
They beat the Brewers 6-4 on Saturday with another big inning and another Jackson Merrill home run and with a starting pitcher besides Matt Waldron going long enough to figure in the decision and four out of five relievers doing what they are supposed to.
After the season’s 81st game, second baseman Jake Cronenworth summed up the blueprint they have misplaced too often but followed Saturday: “The starting pitching keeps you in the game, the bullpen does a phenomenal job, and the offense continues to find a way, whatever it is.”
The Padres (41-40) have won four consecutive games for the second time this season. Getting to that point has been a challenge, as they have won three in a row four other times. They are one of eight teams to have not won at least five straight this season
The previous time they had won three in a row, at the end of their last homestand, they commenced a five-game losing streak.
“Just gotta use the C-word more: consistent,” manager Mike Shildt said earlier this week.
That is the elusive magic word the Padres will continue to seek in the season’s second half.
“The last thing we’re looking for is just to maintain that over a longer period of time,” Cronenworth said.
Saturday, one of the things they badly need to improve was better.
Randy Vásquez was the first Padres starting pitcher in nine games besides Waldron to go at least five innings.
He did so without allowing any runs. Wandy Peralta, Yuki Matsui and Adrián Morejón followed with a scoreless inning apiece before Jhony Brito surrendered two singles and a walk and Brice Turang’s two-out grand slam in the ninth. Robert Suarez came in to get the final out for his 19th save.
Catcher Kyle Higashioka helped out Vásquez by throwing out Turang trying to steal twice — after a walk to start the game and a one-out walk in the third inning.
Vásquez ’s only trouble, which was brief, came in his final inning when the Brewers had runners at the corners with two outs.
He got out of that with a line drive Merrill caught in center field, preserving a 4-0 lead that was built on a pair of singles and a pair of homers in the fourth inning off Brewers rookie Carlos Rodriguez.
Merrill, who singled on the 13th pitch he saw from Rodriguez in the second inning, walked to the plate in the fourth with Donovan Solano and Cronenworth on base after hitting singles. The rookie launched the third pitch of that at-bat 440 feet to center field for the longest of his 10 career home runs and his seventh homer in the past 10 games.
Two batters later, Ha-Seong Kim hit his 10th homer of the season as well
It was the 27th inning this season in which the Padres scored at least four runs. They did that just 28 times all of 2023.
They are far more adept at stringing together hits this season, and their .261 team batting average is tops in the majors leagues.
The Padres have at times had trouble getting hits with runners in scoring position. Lately, however, they have been slugging as well as any team in the major leagues.
Higashioka’s two-run homer in the seventh inning was the Padres’ 29th home run in their past 16 games, second most in MLB in that span.
What the Padres hope they don’t have to do is play much more without three regulars, as they did Saturday.
Catcher Luis Campusano was placed on the injured list Saturday with what was being called a left thumb bruise. Right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. was out after being hit in the upper arm by a pitch Friday, an injury that is not expected to keep him out long, though the strained right quad he has been playing through continues to be worrisome. And Jurickson Profar sat for the second time in 10 games to rest his balky left knee. He has been bothered by patellar tendinitis much of the season and has said he will have to manage it throughout the year.
“We count on each other in here,” Merrill said. “We know we’ve got some guys down right now, but we count on each other. We’re all gonna pick each other up regardless of who’s hurt us and who’s healthy.”