Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning and scored all three of San Diego’s runs as the visiting Padres recorded a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Sunday night to salvage the finale of a three-game series.
Tatis also tripled while joining Xander Bogaerts and Martin Maldonado with two hits as San Diego won for the 16th time in 22 games this season. Gavin Sheets contributed an RBI single after replacing injured designated hitter Luis Arraez.
Jake Meyers had two hits for Houston, which fell back under .500.
Tatis came up with two out in the seventh and drilled a first-pitch slider from Tayler Scott (1-2) over the fence in center to put San Diego in the lead.
Alek Jacob (1-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, Jason Adam recorded five outs for the Padres and Robert Suarez worked a perfect ninth for his major-league-best ninth save.
Arraez was carted off the field in the first inning after being involved in a fierce collision with Astros second baseman Mauricio Dubon that prompted an 11-minute delay. Arraez was taken to Houston Methodist Hospital, and the Padres said he was stable and able to move his extremities.
Arraez put down a drag bunt that prompted Houston first baseman Christian Walker to head to his right to field the ball. Dubon went to cover first base and caught the underhand toss from Walker for the out, but he and Arraez arrived at the same time and crashed into each other. Arraez took the worst of it and barely moved over the next several minutes.
He did return to the ballpark and rejoined the team after the game. Manager Mike Shildt said he was “cautiously optimistic” with early indications good about Arraez’s condition.
“Best-case scenario with Luis,” Shildt said to reporters. “Obviously, very scary. We think he’s for the most part out of the woods. Time will tell, but the initial testing is very favorable. No fractures of any sort. A little bit of laceration on his jawline, so we’re worried about his jaw, clearly his cervical region.
“We’ve been burned on testing before, so we’ll be cautiously optimistic. He did have a period (on the field) of where he wasn’t aware of where he was, so that’s clearly concerning. But everything’s coming back to him now, and his initial testing from a concussion standpoint is favorable. All things considered, it’s a blessing.”
Houston starter Framber Valdez allowed two runs and seven hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out two.
Dylan Cease of the Padres gave up two runs and six hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Valdez walked Tatis before the Arraez play, and then walked Manny Machado after it. Bogaerts hit into a fielder’s choice with Dubon throwing wildly to first, and Tatis scored from second.
San Diego made it 2-0 in the third when Tatis led off with a triple down the right field line and Sheets — who replaced Arraez — followed with a run-scoring single off the glove of Walker and into right field.
The Astros knotted the score in the fifth. Meyers led off with a double to left and moved to third on Cam Smith’s single to right. Dubon added an RBI single when his bloop to shallow center caromed off the glove of Padres second baseman Jose Iglesias after a long run.
Cease struck out Jose Altuve before walking Isaac Paredes to load the bases. Yordan Alvarez hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Smith and tie it at 2.
–Field Level Media
