The Padres struck early Sunday, staking Seth Lugo to a three-run lead in the first inning on their way to a 4-0 shutout of the Giants.
Taking three out of four games from a wild-card rival to begin September normally would be very good news, but the Friars‘ 3-0 start to the month may be a case of too little, too late.
That early lead came on Juan Soto’s third home run in three games, this time on a line drive to left, with Fernando Tatis Jr. on base. Manny Machado followed with a single and Xander Bogaerts drove him in with a double.
Machado added a run in the third with a solo homer, his 26th of the year.
Lugo went six innings, giving up three hits and striking out four. Nick Martinez, Scott Barlow and Josh Hader wrapped things up, allowing the Giants just one more hit.
The Padres’ hopes for a wild-card spot dwindle day by day, with just four weeks remaining in the season. They are 5.5 games out in the race, with Arizona, Cincinnati, Miami and San Francisco in a virtual dead heat ahead of them.
But they clawed their way back to eight games under .500 this weekend, while putting a dent in the Giants’ wild-card chances.
“I think it’s a little late, but still we have 24 games to go and we are going to play as hard as we can and see how far we can end up,” Soto told the Associated Press.
They welcome the Philadelphia Phillies, the wild-card leaders, for three games at Petco Park, starting Monday.
Rich Hill, Pedro Avila and Michael Wacha will get the starts in the series.
