Gary Sanchez hit two solo home runs Sunday and Blake Snell didn’t allow an earned run in five innings as the San Diego Padres held on to defeat visiting Texas 5-3 and complete a three-game sweep of the Rangers.
The win was the Padres’ 11th straight over the Rangers since 2018 — setting a San Diego franchise record for consecutive wins against one team.
Sanchez hit his 11th and 12th homers against Texas relievers Jose Leclerc (0-2) and Brock Burke, helping the Padres build a 4-1 lead after five innings. The Rangers pulled to within a run in the top of the sixth on Marcus Semien’s two-run single off Padres reliever Nick Martinez.
But Padres relievers Steven Wilson, Robert Suarez and Josh Hader held Texas scoreless over the last three innings. The Rangers loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth against Hader on a pair of walks sandwiching Nathaniel Lowe’s double. But Hader retired Josh Jung on a fly to right to record his 25th save.
Snell (8-8) gave up one unearned run on four hits and four walks with nine strikeouts in five innings.
San Diego improved to 8-4 over the last 12 games. Texas has gone 2-7 since winning six straight coming out of the All-Star break.
The Padres took a 1-0 lead in bottom of the third — but it might have been costly. Ha-Seong Kim opened the inning with a single and moved to third on a walk to Juan Soto and a single by Manny Machado. Kim scored on a sacrifice fly by Xander Bogaerts, but had to leave the game after injuring his right shoulder in a collision with Rangers catcher Sam Huff on a head-first slide. Kim is day-to-day, according to Padres manager Bob Melvin.
Texas tied the game in the top of the fourth. Ezequiel Duran walked, stole second and scored when Snell made a bad throw on Leody Taveras’ infield single.
But Sanchez opened the bottom of the fourth by driving Leclerc’s first pitch 399 feet into the left field stands. The Padres added a second run on a two-out RBI double by Juan Soto off Burke. Sanchez then homered in the fifth on a 1-1 changeup from Burke to make it 4-1.
Mitch Garver and Duran hit back-to-back singles against Martinez to open the sixth. They moved up on Huff’s groundout and scored on Semien’s two-run single.
The Padres scored their final run in the bottom of the eighth. Trent Grisham singled, stole second and scored when Robbie Grossman mishandled Fernando Tatis Jr.’s single to left field.
–Field Level Media
