Jackson Merrill homered while Luis Arraez rapped out four hits as the visiting San Diego Padres rallied from a four-run deficit to outlast the Chicago Cubs 8-7 on Sunday.
The winning run scored in the top of the ninth when Chicago second baseman Nico Hoerner threw wildly to first on Manny Machado’s potential double play grounder, enabling Fernando Tatis Jr. to score from second.
Elias Diaz led off the inning with a walk against Ryan Pressly (0-1). Tatis’ grounder forced out pinch-runner Brandon Lockridge but Arraez singled to left, setting the stage for the game-deciding miscue.
Jason Adam (2-0) worked out of trouble in the eighth inning to pick up the win in relief and Robert Suarez got the final three outs for his fourth save as San Diego avoided a three-game sweep.
Merrill drilled a two-run shot over the left-center field wall in the fourth to start the Padres’ comeback from down 7-3. Arraez cut the margin to 7-6 in the fifth with an RBI single and Gavin Sheets tied it in the eighth with a two-out single that scored Merrill.
The comeback took Kyle Hart off the hook after the Padres’ starter lasted only two-thirds of an inning, allowing five runs on two hits and four walks. Cubs starter Ben Brown permitted five runs on seven hits and four walks in four innings, whiffing five.
Neither starter could find the strike zone in a 45-minute first inning. San Diego scored three runs after loading the bases with no outs. Jake Cronenworth was plunked with a fastball for the first run, followed by an infield hit by Xander Bogaerts and a two-out, bases-loaded walk to Jason Heyward.
But Chicago erased the deficit in a hurry as it got an RBI single from Kyle Tucker, a sacrifice fly from Justin Turner and a run-scoring double from Hoerner. Logan Gillaspie relieved Hart and committed two balks that resulted in two runs.
The Cubs got two runs in more conventional fashion in the second when Tucker bombed a two-run homer into the bleachers in right, his fifth of the year.
