SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jackson Merrill hit a three-run double, Michael King pitched six effective innings and the San Diego Padres beat the Minnesota Twins 5-3 on Monday night in an interleague matchup of playoff contenders.
San Diego (71-55) bounced back nicely after dropping two of three at Colorado over the weekend. The Padres are 21-5 since July 20.
Minnesota (70-55) had won five of seven going into the three-game set. The Twins did not hit a home run on Monday, ending their streak of eight consecutive games with a homer since Aug. 11.
King (11-6) labored through his first two innings, giving up two runs and throwing 45 pitches. But he got stronger as the game went on, surrendering a total of four hits and striking out six.
Jason Adam and Tanner Scott each pitched a scoreless inning for San Diego before Robert Suarez worked the ninth for his 28th save.
Edouard Julien walked and scored on Christian Vázquez's two-out single before Suarez retired Jose Miranda on a grounder to shortstop.
Twins right-hander Zebby Matthews (1-1) pitched five innings of four-hit ball in his second major league start. He was charged with five runs — two earned.
The game was tied at 2 in the third when Jurickson Profar reached on an error on Matthews, who dropped a throw by second baseman Julien.
With two outs and the bases loaded after two walks, Merrill doubled into the alley in left-center.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the first after Matt Wallner doubled in Trevor Larnach from first.
San Diego responded with two runs in the bottom half. Jake Cronenworth had a run-scoring groundout, and Xander Bogaerts singled home Profar.
