Padres’ bullpen shuts down Marlins

Four Padres relievers combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings as San Diego defeated the host Miami Marlins 2-1 on Monday night in their series opener.
The Padres, who are a victory away from their fourth straight winning three-game series, produced just five hits.
However, they got enough pitching from starter Randy Vasquez (one run in 4 1/3 innings), Adrian Morejon (1 2/3 innings), Jeremiah Estrada (one inning), Jason Adam (one inning) and Robert Suarez (one inning).
Morejon (8-4) retired all five batters he faced while Suarez picked up his 29th save.
Miami’s Kyle Stowers homered in the fourth inning, a 400-foot drive. He also had a 380-foot shot caught in the second. The first-time All-Star has 22 homers this season, including six in his last five games.
Marlins starter Eury Perez (3-3) allowed five hits, two walks and two runs in five innings.
San Diego opened the scoring in the second inning on a rally started by Xander Bogaerts’ double off the wall in right-center and a wild pitch by Perez. Jackson Merrill pulled an RBI single to right and scored on Martin Maldonado’s two-out double down the third-base line – running through a stop sign from third-base coach Tim Leiper.
Miami had runners on first and second with one out in the third when Agustin Ramirez smashed a 115-mph liner. However, the ball was hit right at two-time Gold Glove third baseman Manny Machado, who doubled Jesus Sanchez off second base.
The Marlins cut their deficit to 2-1 in the fourth on Stowers’ homer. That homer came one pitch after Stowers was nearly hit by a pitch.
San Diego missed a chance to take the lead in the fifth. Fernando Tatis Jr. drilled a leadoff double and advanced on Luis Arraez’s groundout to second. However, Perez struck out Machado on a pitch below the strike zone. Gavin Sheets’ flyout ended the threat.
Liam Hicks hit a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth, but Heriberto Hernandez grounded out to end the game.
Tuesday’s game features a pair of struggling right-handers: San Diego’s Dylan Cease (3-9, 4.64 ERA) against Miami’s Sandy Alcantara (4-9, 7.14 ERA). Cease is closing in on the one-year anniversary of his July 25 no-hitter against Washington.