Musgrove goes 6 innings as Padres hand Giants their 3rd straight shutout in 8-0 win

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Joe Musgrove struck out eight in six innings, Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill both drove in two runs and the San Diego Padres beat San Francisco 8-0 on Saturday night to hand the Giants their third straight shutout.

Donovan Solano had four of San Diego's 17 hits and Xander Bogaerts homered for the Padres, who hold the top National League wild card. They clawed within 3 1/2 games of the first-place Dodgers — who have lost four of five — in the NL West.

Musgrove said the Padres are “chasing right down their backs right now.”

“We’re playing really good baseball,” he said. “Our confidence is high. The approach is right on both sides of the baseball. So I think we’re in a really good spot to make a push at this thing.”

The Giants have lost four of five. They've been shut out in three consecutive games for the first time since 1992 and just the fourth time in the San Francisco era (since 1958).

Frustrated manager Bob Melvin said his team is focused, running hard down the line and preparing for games, but “it just looks awful when you’re not hitting and you’re playing awful defense.”

He added the Giants did not display “major league quality” on Saturday.

“It’s the big leagues,” Melvin said. “It looks like the instructional league at times.”

San Francisco has only 14 hits over the last three games, and is the first MLB team to be blanked in three straight games this season.

“I feel like every team struggles, but not this bad,” second-place hitter Heliot Ramos said. “We’ve got to be better as a team and individually as well.”

Luis Arráez extended his streak to 135 at-bats without a strikeout for the Padres. It’s the longest since Juan Pierre went 147 at-bats without a strikeout in 2004.

Before the game, Melvin said the approach to pitching to Arráez is “carefully, and hope he hits it at somebody.”

“The issue is what you've got coming behind him,” Melvin said. “So, you just have to deal with him and try to make good pitches on him."

Musgrove (6-5) rebounded after allowing six runs in a loss to the Giants last week, holding San Francisco to three hits without a walk this time.

Giants starter Mason Black (0-4) yielded two runs and six hits in four innings, losing to the Padres for the second consecutive start.

“It’s just been, continue to attack,” Black said of what he's learned from facing San Diego twice in a row. “It’s almost like I just want to go out there, prove to myself and see what I can do and let them hit the ball."

After Black exited, the Padres gave Musgrove a 5-0 cushion with a three-run sixth against Sean Hjelle. Arráez had a two-out RBI single, also extending his hitting streak to 12 games. Later in the inning, Machado drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single. San Diego added three more in the eighth, including a two-run double by Merrill.

Padres manager Mike Shildt said having Solano, who entered the game batting .288, hitting eighth is a testament to the strength of San Diego's lineup.

“Sometimes you look to the bottom as a breather, and there’s no breathers at the bottom of our lineup,” Shildt said. “Having Donovan Solano — if he’s down there hitting eight for us — says quite a lot about the length of our lineup.”

Machado gave the Padres an early lead with a double that scored Jurickson Profar from first after an error by Ramos on his throw from center field. Bogaerts’ homer in the fourth made it 2-0.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Padres: INF Ha-Seong Kim (right shoulder inflammation) played light catch and plans to ramp up his throwing intensity in the next few days. … LHP Martin Pérez, the scheduled starter Sunday, was reinstated from the paternity list. LHP Tom Cosgrove was optioned to Triple-A El Paso.

Giants: INF Tyler Fitzgerald (lower back tightness) could return as soon as Tuesday after an MRI revealed no structural damage. … RHP Jordan Hicks (right shoulder inflammation) was reinstated from the injured list, and RHP Austin Warren was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. … LHP Robbie Ray (left hamstring strain) threw a bullpen.

UP NEXT

Giants RHP Landen Roupp (0-1, 3.44 ERA) starts Sunday in the series finale opposite Pérez (4-5, 4.46).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

San Francisco Giants pitcher Mason Black reacts on the mound during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' Luis Arraez, left, scores past San Francisco Giants catcher Patrick Bailey during the eighth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' Donovan Solano (39) celebrates with third baseman Tyler Wade after the Padres defeated the San Francisco Giants in a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Francisco Giants' Matt Chapman, left, hitting coach Pat Burrell, second from left, Patrick Bailey, middle, and Mike Yastrzemski, right, watch from the dugout during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, left, takes the ball from pitcher Jordan Hicks, right, during a pitching change in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' Luis Arraez runs to first base on his RBI single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres pitcher Alek Jacob, left, celebrates with right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. after the Padres defeated the San Francisco Giants in a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' Manny Machado, right, gestures next to San Francisco Giants second baseman Marco Luciano, left, while advancing to second base after hitting a two-run single during the sixth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' Donovan Solano gestures after hitting a double against the San Francisco Giants during the seventh inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove works against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

BALTIMORE (AP) — Blake Snell struck out 12 over six innings and allowed just one hit to carry the San Francisco Giants past the faltering Baltimore Orioles 10-0 on Tuesday night.

The Orioles have lost seven of nine to fall 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East, pending New York’s game later Tuesday night at Seattle. Baltimore held a half-game lead on Sept. 5 before its current tailspin, during which it has been outscored 46-18.

Colton Cowser had two of the Orioles’ five hits in their most lopsided shutout loss of the season.

RAYS 8, RED SOX 3

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Shane Baz allowed two runs and two hits over seven innings, Jose Siri homered and drove in four runs, and Tampa Bay beat Boston.

Baz (3-3) struck out six and walked one, and set a team mark with his fifth consecutive start of giving up three hits or fewer over five-plus innings.

Siri hit one Tampa Bay’s three homers during a four-run fifth inning and extended the Rays lead to 8-3 with his three-run bloop double to left in the eighth.

Junior Caminero, Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe also homered for the Rays. Tampa Bay trails Minnesota by six games for the final AL wild card, and would also have pass Boston, Seattle and Detroit.

Triston Casas and Romy Gonzalez homered for Boston, which is five back of the Twins with 11 games remaining.

MARLINS 11, DODGERS 9

MIAMI (AP) — Jesús Sánchez doubled twice and drove in three runs, and Miami beat Shohei Ohtani and the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ohtani struck out three times but hit his 48th home run as he tries to become the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season. He did not steal a base for the fifth straight game and remains at 48.

Sánchez went 5 for 5, while Otto Lopez and Jake Burger homered for the Marlins.

Connor Norby became the first Marlin with four runs scored in a single game this season. He went 2 for 3 with a single, double and two walks. Kyle Stowers had an RBI triple in the fourth and added a run-scoring double in the sixth for the Marlins, who had 15 hits.

TWINS 4, GUARDIANS 1

CLEVELAND (AP) — Willi Castro hit a two-run homer, Matt Wallner had two RBIs and Minnesota bounced back from a crushing loss in the series opener to beat Cleveland and stay locked into the final AL wild card.

Castro connected in the eighth inning, and both of Wallner’s RBI singles came off Gavin Williams (3-10), who has just one win in his last seven starts.

The Twins entered with a 1 1/2-game lead over Detroit for the last playoff berth.

Lane Thomas homered for the AL Central-leading Guardians, who are closing in on the postseason. They can still clinch a spot on Wednesday.

REDS 6, BRAVES 5

CINCINNATI (AP) — Michael Harris II and Matt Olson homered for Atlanta, but the Braves blew a four-run lead in a costly loss to Cincinnati.

Pierce Johnson and Jesse Chavez struggled as Atlanta dropped its third consecutive game. The Braves (81-70) are battling the New York Mets for the third NL wild card.

Harris hit a leadoff drive in the first against Brandon Williamson. Marcell Ozuna reached on a one-out single before Olson made it 3-0 with his 26th homer.

Jorge Soler’s 19th homer made it 5-1 in the fourth. But that was it for Atlanta, which went 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.

Spencer Steer homered for Cincinnati, and Tyler Stephenson had two hits and drove in a run. The Reds improved to 4-0 against the Braves this year.

METS 10, NATIONALS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Alonso homered and drove in five runs, Luisangel Acuña added his first major league longball to cap a huge night at the plate, and the New York Mets routed Washington to boost their chances in a close National League playoff race.

Tylor Megill (4-5) provided another terrific outing in place of injured starter Paul Blackburn, and Francisco Alvarez also went deep as the Mets improved to 10-2 against Washington this year.

New York moved two games ahead of rival Atlanta for the last NL wild card with 11 to play. A loud cheer went up in the crowd of 24,932 at Citi Field when the out-of-town scoreboard showed that Cincinnati had polished off a 6-5 comeback victory over the Braves.

Jose Iglesias had three hits and scored twice, batting leadoff with Francisco Lindor sidelined by a sore back. The 22-year-old Acuña, subbing for Lindor at shortstop, finished a triple shy of the cycle and scored three times from the No. 9 spot in his fourth big league game.

CARDINALS 3, PIRATES 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lance Lynn threw six strong innings in his 100th appearance at Busch Stadium, Jordan Walker homered and St. Louis beat Pittsburgh.

Lynn (7-4) allowed one run on four hits and struck out five. Lynn is 9-0 over his last 21 starts at Busch, where he pitched for the Cardinals from 2011-17 before rejoining St. Louis this season. His last loss in the Cardinals’ ballpark came on July 4, 2017, against Miami.

The Cardinals (76-75) are seven games out of the final NL wild card spot with 11 games remaining.

Bryan De La Cruz hit his 20th homer of the season, taking Lynn deep in the second inning. De La Cruz’s drive to the left-center bleachers traveled 431 feet and was his second for Pittsburgh after being acquired from Miami.

PHILLIES 5, BREWERS 1

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Bryce Harper hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning to back up the strong pitching of Zack Wheeler and Philadelphia beat Milwaukee in a matchup of division leaders.

Nick Castellanos added a solo shot and Trea Turner went 3 for 5 to help the Phillies move closer to wrapping up the NL East title while delaying the Brewers’ NL Central championship celebration.

The Phillies lowered their magic number for clinching the NL East to four. The Brewers’ magic number dropped to one with the Chicago Cubs 4-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics.

OAKLAND 4, CUBS 3

CHICAGO (AP) — Shea Langeliers homered twice, including a towering solo drive that cleared the Wrigley Field bleachers in left, and Oakland beat Chicago.

Langeliers’ third multihomer game of the season and No. 5 for his career upped his season total to 28, extending his career best.

Lawrence Butler also went deep for Oakland, which stopped a three-game losing streak. The skid included back-to-back losses to the MLB-worst White Sox.

Ian Happ hit two solo homers for the Cubs (77-74), who fell six games behind the New York Mets for the final NL wild card with 11 games left.

TIGERS 3, ROYALS 1, 10 INNINGS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Parker Meadows hit a broken-bat single in the 10th inning to give Detroit the lead, moments after Trey Sweeney had been given third base because of a balk, and the Tigers went on to beat Kansas City.

Tyler Holton (7-1) retired all six Royals he faced, striking out a pair in the ninth to force extra innings. Jason Foley took care of the Royals in the 10th, earning the save for the second straight night and 25th time this season.

Riley Greene added an RBI single off Lucas Erceg (2-6) later in the 10th for the Tigers, helping them to remain 1 1/2 games back of the Twins for the final AL wild-card spot.

The Royals stayed 2 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the first wild-card spot. They are 1 1/2 ahead of Minnesota.

ROCKIES 8, DIAMONDBACKS 2

DENVER (AP) — Hunter Goodman and Ezequiel Tovar hit home runs, Ryan Feltner pitched into the seventh inning for his first victory at Coors Field in two years, and Colorado beat Arizona.

Tovar, who also homered in Monday’s 3-2 win over Arizona, finished with three hits and drove in two runs. Goodman also homered Monday and connected for his 13th of the season off Blake Walston in the seventh.

Jacob Stallings and Jordan Beck hit run-scoring doubles and Brenton Doyle added a sacrifice fly for the Rockies, who had two more runs in the eighth.

Christian Walker homered and Pavin Smith had two doubles and scored a run for Arizona, which dropped into a tie with the New York Mets for the last two NL wild-card spots. San Diego holds the top spot.

RANGERS 13, BLUE JAYS 8

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Wyatt Langford homered and doubled twice, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and Texas beat Toronto.

Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.

Heim was 1 for 34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.

Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.

ANGELS 5, WHITE SOX 0

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Rookie Eric Wagaman homered for the second straight game, Griffin Canning threw six innings of three-hit ball, and the Los Angeles Angels dealt the Chicago White Sox their 116th loss with a 5-0 victory on Tuesday night.

The White Sox were shut out for the 19th time, tied for fourth-most since 2000, and finished with six hits. They had only two runners reach second base.

The Angels stopped a six-game slide. They scored in the third through seventh innings and had 10 hits for the first time in five games.

YANKEES 11, MARINERS 2

SEATTLE (AP) — Aaron Judge drove in four runs in his first two at-bats, Juan Soto hit his 40th homer of the season and 200th of his career, and the New York Yankees moved to the cusp of clinching a playoff berth with a win over Seattle.

The Yankees can clinch at worst a wild-card spot in the American League with a victory over Seattle on Wednesday. The win in the opener of New York’s six-game road trip pushed the Yankees lead in the AL East to four games over Baltimore.

Judge laced a two-run double three batters into the game and added a two-out, two-run single the next time he was up an inning later. Judge now has a league-leading 136 RBIs on the season.

Soto joined the offensive outburst in the third inning with a two-out, two-run opposite field blast off Seattle starter Bryan Woo. It’s the first time in his career Soto has reached the 40-homer mark and he’s now homered in all 30 parks in baseball.

Soto and Judge are the third set of Yankee teammates to each hit 40 home runs in a season joining Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig (1927, 1930, 1931), and Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (1961).

ASTROS 4, PADRES 3, 10 INNINGS

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Grae Kessinger replaced the ejected Jose Altuve and scored on Kyle Tucker’s single in the 10th inning to give the AL West-leading Houston a wild win against San Diego.

Astros reliever Héctor Neris loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 10th before getting Manny Machado to ground into a force play. Machado had hit a tying two-run homer in the sixth.

Neris earned his 18th save.

Kessinger started the 10th as the automatic runner in place of Altuve, who was ejected along with manager Joe Espada after a crazy scene following the top of the ninth.

Altuve grounded out to third for the final out but apparently thought he had fouled the ball off his foot. He took off his left cleat and sock, which got him ejected by plate umpire Brennan Miller. Espada was tossed after continuing to argue.

Giants blank Orioles

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Blake Snell delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Giants blank Orioles