Good morning,

It doesn’t matter how it happened.

The Padres have an opportunity win a series today because they found a way to win last night. Or maybe because a way to win found them.

You can read in my game story (here) how the Padres came back from a three-run deficit and how a decision by Nationals first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to not get a force out at home facilitated the deciding run in the sixth inning.

Yes, the Padres’ four back-end relievers closed out the game with six scoreless innings. But it might not have been enough had the winners not been given a solution.

Lowe won a Gold Glove playing first base for a World Series champion two years ago in Texas. He has played more than 700 big-league games at the position.

In this space, we almost always err on the side of going with the explanation of the guy who has done it for several years at the highest level. Lowe told reporters in the Nationals clubhouse last night, “I’d like to get a better grip on the ball before I go home.”

Multiple viewings of the play not only do not appear to show Lowe having issue with his grip, they show that he almost certainly still could have forced Gavin Sheets at home had he adjusted his grip, double pumped and taken a smoke break before throwing to catcher Riley Adams.

Here is an image from Padres.TV that shows where everyone was when Lowe fielded the ball:

But hey, OK.

Last night did not serve to bolster confidence in the Padres’ struggling offense. Even before he was knocked from the game when he was hit in the right (throwing) arm by a 103 mph line drive, starting pitcher Ryan Bergert wasn’t setting up well for a long outing.

But there is a saying that fits this situation. Maybe you have heard Manny Machado say it once or twice or 100 times.

A win is a win.

And against the Nationals, when no excuse for a loss would have resonated, with the National League playoff race seeming like it could well come down to what happens on a night or two like this, with the Padres scuffling, this was such a win.

Got it done

Six scoreless innings in 66 pitches was reminiscent of a time earlier this season when the combination of the Padres’ four highest-leverage relievers was virtually unbeatable.

What was most remarkable last night was the length and situations they were asked to cover.

Adrián Morejón replaced Bergert with one man on and no outs in the fourth inning and got through the fifth. He did allow the man he inherited on first base to score — on a stolen base, an infield single and a fielder’s choice.

Jason Adam then came into a game earlier than he had all season and threw 27 pitches in 1⅔ innings. Those five outs tied a season-high by the pitcher whose 40 appearances lead the major leagues.

Jeremiah Estrada took just 10 pitches to get his four outs, and two of those came by strikeout.

And Robert Suarez  moved back into a tie for the MLB lead with his 22nd save — a 1-2-3 ninth inning completed in 15 pitches.

“It’s easy when you’ve got that kind of pitchers,” catcher Martín Maldonado said. “… Those guys have been the core of this team.”

Pitching maneuvers

The Padres said X-rays on Bergert’s forearm were negative.

There still could be a move made today, as the Padres prepare to play short-handed.

It is expected that Suarez will begin serving his suspension for hitting the Dodgers Shohei Ohtani with a pitch last Thursday.

“Tomorrow, I’ll find out what that decision is,” Suarez said last night after earning his 22nd save, tied with the Royals’ Carlos Estévez for most in the major leagues.

However, a team source confirmed that Suarez will begin serving his suspension and that the result of his appeal is that the duration of the suspension has been lessened from three games to two.

That means the Padres will carry just 25 players for two games.

They are off tomorrow before beginning a series in Cincinnati on Friday. The timing of the off day makes it possible the Padres could go with seven relievers while Suarez is out.

Or they could recall Sean Reynolds and put Bergert on the injured list.

They could then recall Matt Waldron to start Monday in Philadelphia, where he held the Phillies to one run on five hits over seven innings last June.

While Suarez claimed no decision had been made regarding when he would begin serving his suspension, he did acknowledge the plan was for him to get work last night.

“I thought I was going to pitch tonight regardless,” he said through interpreter Jorge Merlos. “At least it was a good situation to come in and it worked out well.”

Caught it good

Maldonado tied last night’s game 3-3 with a home run leading off the fifth inning.

It was his fourth home run of the season, matching his season total from a year ago — in 22 fewer at-bats.

All four of Maldonado’s homers have come on the first pitch of the at-bat, and that has been something of a speciality of his throughout his 15-year career.

Of his 119 career home runs, 27 have come on a 0-0 count.

“I’m just looking for a good pitch to hit,” Maldonado said. “Batting ninth, you have Fernando Tatius Jr. behind you and the top of the lineup coming up. I try to get a hit. You don’t want to go out there and miss it.”

Maldonado is batting just .189 with a .562 OPS this season. That average is 70 points higher than last season, and the OPS is 159 points higher.

Elias Díaz and Maldonado are given a lot of credit internally for the Padres’ somewhat patchwork pitching staff having the league’s ninth-best ERA (3.64) and fourth-lowest batting average allowed (.229). But the Padres are still in search of a more offensive catcher as the July 31 trade deadline nears.

Balls falling, average rising

Luis Arraez is hitting it where they ain’t.

Finally.

“I don’t want to say that I’m unlucky right now, but baseball right now is hard,” Arraez said last week. “Like, I hit the ball to the left field line, there is somebody there. I hit to center field, there is somebody there. I hit to right field, there is somebody there. But I just need to continue hit and see what happens.”

What has happened is that Arraez is on an 11-game hitting streak, which he extended last night by going 2-for-4.

He is batting .327 (16-for-49) during the streak, which is his longest since his career-high 14-game streak that ran from Aug. 31 through Sept. 16 last year.

He has raised his batting average nine points to .282, which is still his lowest (by 41 points) 73 games into a season.

He is not chasing fewer pitches outside the strike zone. He is not hitting the ball any harder. These are not harbingers of success for Arraez.

Ball seems to simply be finding grass. Arraez’s batting average on balls in play is .333 during his hitting streak. It was .266 before that.

The three-time batting champion and .318 career hitter has never had a BABIP lower than .323 in any of his six big-league seasons.

Tidbits

  • Morejón has not allowed an earned run over his past 16 appearances (15 innings). In that span, he has stranded 11 of the 13 runners he has inherited and held opposing batters to a .100 batting average (5-for-50).
  • The Padres came back to win last night for the second time in three days. They had not had a comeback win in their 17 games leading up to Sunday.
  • Last night was also the Padres’ second consecutive victory by one run after having lost four straight and seven of their previous eight one-run games. The Padres 26-18 record in one-run games is still fourth-best in MLB.
  • The Padres are 14-14 when conceding the first run of a game. They are the only team in the majors to not have a losing record in games in which their opponent scores first.
  • Machado’s first-inning single put him nine hits from 2,000.
  • Last night was the second game this season the Padres got at least one RBI from each of the bottom four spots in the order. The other time was May 9 at Colorado.
  • Sheets went 1-for-3 with a walk last night and has a .391 on-base percentage during his career-high 15-game on-base streak.
  • Jackson Merrill was 1-for-4 and is batting .345 (10-for-29) during an eight-game hitting streak.
  • Shildt is “enjoying” the Padres’ new top of the order — with Merrill hitting second and Arraez fourth — and he does not intend to change it. You can read about that in Jeff Sanders’ game preview (here) from yesterday afternoon. The Padres are 2-1 with the new top of the order but not because it has incited a run riot. Jeff’s pregame post also includes the expected news that Jason Heyward was released yesterday after being designated for assigment on Saturday and confirmation that Yu Darvish will pitch a simulated game Wednesday in Lake Elsinore.
  • Sanders also posted a story (here) yesterday on how fans can invest in Padres minor leaguer Tirso Ornelas’ career.

All right, that’s it for me. Early game today (1:10 p.m. PT) and then a flight to Cincinnati.

Talk to you tomorrow.