ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Xander Bogaerts hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, and the San Diego Padres beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 on Sunday.
Jackson Merrill had a two-run homer for the Padres, who are in a close race with Arizona for the first NL wild card. The rookie has 79 RBIs.
Jake Cronenworth drew San Diego’s 10th walk leading off the ninth against Manuel Rodríguez (3-4) and went to third on Manny Machado’s single. Bogaerts made it 4-3 on his drive to deep center.
Tanner Scott (9-5) worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth before Robert Suarez did the same in the ninth to get his 21st save in 23 chances.
Tampa Bay had just two baserunners through five innings against Dylan Cease before loading the bases with no outs in the sixth on two walks and a base hit.
Jason Adam, acquired from Tampa Bay in July, entered and hit Junior Caminero with a pitch to force in a run. After another run scored on Josh Lowe’s double-play grounder, the Rays tied it at 3 on Adam’s wild pitch.
Cease gave up three runs, two hits and three walks with four strikeouts in five-plus innings.
Merrill hit his 21st homer off Ryan Pepiot during a three-run fourth. Jurickson Profar’s sacrifice fly made it 3-0.
The Padres went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base through six innings. They drew eight walks during that stretch.
Pepiot gave up three runs, four hits and four walks in three-plus innings. He struck out four.
Fred McGriff was inducted to the Rays’ Hall of Fame before the game. The slugger was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame last year.
San Diego added infield depth by signing Nick Ahmed to a minor league contract. Right-hander Randy Vásquez was optioned to Triple-A El Paso after allowing nine runs on Saturday.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: C Kyle Higashioka (flu-like symptoms) missed his second consecutive game. … LHP Wandy Peralta (left adductor strain) was reinstated from the 15-day injured list.
Rays: 1B Yandy Díaz (left knee) was the DH after missing one game.
UP NEXT
Padres: Host the Detroit Tigers on Monday.
Rays: RHP Zack Littell (5-8, 3.89 ERA) and Minnesota RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (5-3, 3.85) are Monday night’s starters.
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