Jackson Merrill's homer lifts Padres past Brewers in series opener

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Aug 11, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Casey Mize rebounded, and Jackson Merrill kept hitting.

A night that was slowly rolling toward a lost game in the standings changed with a bang — another one off the bat of Merrill, whose two-run homer in the seventh inning flipped the lead and decided the Padres’ 3-2 victory over the Brewers.

Merrill’s major league-leading ninth home run since July 19 followed Ty France’s one-out single, which ended a run of 13 consecutive batters retired by Brewers starting pitcher Logan Henderson.

The splendid night of pitching seemed for a time as if it would be the only good news for the Padres against the team with the major leagues’ best record.

And that would have been no small thing, as one of the starters they traded for last week pitching in the manner they expected will matter as they continue to fight for a playoff spot.

Mize allowed two runs in six innings, both on Christian Yelich’s home run in the second inning.

But Henderson was, in turn, dominating the Padres with efficiency.

He had made it through six innings on 77 pitches, and when Manny Machado led off the seventh with a pop fly out, Monday became the longest of Henderson’s 16 career starts.

The 24-year-old right-hander yielded Ty France’s leadoff homer in the second inning, a leadoff double to Freddy Fermin in the third and then didn’t allow a baserunner until France’s grounder through the left side in the seventh.

Merrill then launched a 1-1 changeup Henderson left a little too high 431 feet.

Yuki Matsui, who pitched a 1-2-3 seventh innings just before Merrill’s blast, got the win. Adrian Morejón pitched the eighth, and Mason Miller earned his National League-leading 30th save when Fermin threw out Brandon Lockridge trying to steal second base for the final out.

The victory kept the Padres a game out of playoff position when a loss almost certainly would have drop them two games back in the race for one of the final two National League playoff spots, as the Phillies won and the Diamondbacks were leading the Rockies 7-0 in the eighth inning in Phoenix.

The comeback could not have been possible if Mize had not shut down the Brewers over his final four innings.

The eight runs he allowed (in 3⅓ innings) last Wednesday were the most he had ever surrendered in 104 major league starts.

His only blemishes Monday were the one-out walk he issued to William Contreras in the second inning and the fastball he laid in the heart of the plate on his next pitch that Yellich hit beyond the wall in left field.

France led off the bottom of the inning with a line drive just over the wall in left field.

The Padres squandered a chance to tie the game in the third inning when Fermin lined a double to left field and Sung-Mun Song sacrificed him to third before Tatis hit a hard groundout to shortstop and Jake Cronenworth struck out.

_______