Merrill breaks out, bullpen steps up as Padres take series from Phillies

San Diego, California – It took one of the game’s best to snap Jackson Merrill out of the worst slump of his life. But with Zack Wheeler on the mound Saturday night, the 22-year-old finally looked like himself again—and then some.

Mired in a brutal 3-for-42 skid with no extra-base hits in over a month, Merrill erupted for two clutch home runs off the Phillies’ ace, powering the Padres to a 5-4 win at Petco Park and a series victory over the National League’s top team.

The long-awaited breakthrough started in the second inning. With San Diego trailing 2-0 and Gavin Sheets on second, Merrill jumped on a high fastball and drove it over the left-centerfield wall to tie the game. It was his first home run since May 27—a span of 126 at-bats. Jake Cronenworth followed with a double and came around to score on a Martin Maldonado single, giving the Padres a 3-2 lead.

Yu Darvish, making just his second start of the season, worked into the fifth but ran into trouble with two outs and the bases loaded. Padres manager Mike Shildt let him try to finish the inning, but Edmundo Sosa—who had just replaced an injured Alec Bohm—lined a two-run single through the left side to put Philadelphia back on top, 4-3. That was it for Darvish, who allowed four runs on five hits and three walks while striking out two in 4.2 innings.

But Merrill wasn’t done. Just two at-bats after his first homer, the rookie came through again in the sixth, this time launching another Wheeler fastball—up in the zone, again—into the right-centerfield seats to tie the game 4-4.

In the bottom of the seventh, Fernando Tatis Jr. singled and moved to third on a Luis Arraez hit. Manny Machado, ever the steady hand in big moments, lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Tatis and give the Padres the lead for good.

From there, San Diego’s bullpen held strong despite the absence of key arms. Adrian Morejon, Jason Adam, and Robert Suarez were all down due to heavy recent workloads. That meant the game rested on the shoulders of Bryan Hoeing, Wandy Peralta, David Morgan, Yuki Matsui, and Jeremiah Estrada. Together, they delivered 4.1 innings of shutout ball, with Estrada slamming the door in the ninth for his third save.

Morgan (1-1) earned the win with a scoreless inning in the middle frames. Wheeler, meanwhile, was tagged for four runs and six hits in six innings, striking out six. It was just the fourth time all season he’d allowed more than two earned runs.

With the win, the Padres secured the series and have a chance to sweep the Phillies heading into the All-Star break. Nick Pivetta takes the mound Sunday for San Diego against Philadelphia’s Christopher Sanchez.