Jackson Merrill and Luis Arraez homered Wednesday as the San Diego Padres extended their franchise-record season-opening winning streak to seven games with a 5-2 win over the visiting Cleveland Guardians.
Dylan Cease (1-0) worked 6 1/3 solid innings for the win, allowing just four hits and a run with a walk and seven strikeouts. Three relievers got the final eight outs, with Robert Suarez pitching the ninth for his third save in as many chances.
Ben Lively (0-1) absorbed the loss for Cleveland, lasting just 4 1/3 innings and permitting four runs off seven hits. He walked two and fanned four but couldn’t overcome a third inning where he got two quick outs before running into game-defining trouble.
Fernando Tatis Jr. legged out an infield single and reached third on Arraez’s single. With Manny Machado hitting, Arraez broke for second, drew a throw and then hesitated long enough to create a short rundown. Tatis sped home and beat the throw for a double steal and a 1-0 lead.
Machado beat out an infield single down the third-base line and Arraez scored from second on Jose Ramirez’s throwing error. Merrill, who earlier Wednesday agreed to a nine-year, $135 million contract extension, then lined a two-run homer to right – his second in as many days.
That was more than enough for Cease and the bullpen to protect. While San Diego relievers gave up their first run since Thursday, they were able to keep the Guardians at bay when they got the tying run to the plate in the eighth. Adrian Morejon fetched a 4-6-3 double play ball from Nolan Jones to quash the threat.
Cleveland got on the board in the seventh via Lane Thomas’ groundout that scored Carlos Santana. Its other run scored in the eighth on Kyle Manzardo’s sacrifice fly that chased home Steven Kwan.
Arraez accounted for the Padres’ final run in the seventh when he spanked a hanging breaking ball from Tim Herrin into the seats in right, his first homer of the year.
