Rookie Jackson Merrill’s enthusiasm appears to be contagious for the San Diego Padres, who will continue their three-game series against the host Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
The 20-year Merrill recorded his second consecutive three-hit game to help the Padres rally for a 7-3 victory Monday. Milwaukee led 3-1 before Merrill’s two-run single highlighted the Padres’ six-run fifth inning.
“It just seemed like a snakebit inning,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “We still had a chance to win, though. Proud our guys didn’t give up.”
Merrill is 9-for-17 over his last four games for San Diego, which has won four of its past five. The center fielder has reached base in 14 of his past 15 games and is batting .356 with seven RBIs for the season.
“I don’t think I’ve seen a player work as hard as he does,” said Padres third baseman Manny Machado, 31. “He’s here early and doing his thing and getting ready for a ballgame every night and bringing that energy at the same time. I look back at it, and I wish I was 20 again. It’s fun to see, man.”
Merrill’s energy factored into the Padres’ rally on Monday, when they scored six runs in the fifth inning on six singles, a walk, a catcher’s interference and a passed ball.
“What I love about this offense is the ability to do things in a lot of different ways,” San Diego manager Mike Shildt said. “We’ve got the big ball, but tonight was more about taking good at-bats. We just took what the game gave us and strung together a lot of good team at-bats.”
San Diego will look to maintain its momentum Tuesday against Milwaukee left-hander Wade Miley (0-0, 2.25 ERA), who made his season debut last Wednesday and gave up one run over four innings in a no-decision against the Cincinnati Reds. The Brewers won 7-2.
Miley, 37, began the season on the 15-day injured list with a left shoulder impingement, and he exited his first start of the season after throwing 52 pitches.
Xander Bogaerts is 6-for-18 with a home run against Miley, who is 2-6 with a 4.88 ERA in 16 career starts against the Padres.
Milwaukee is monitoring the status of outfielder Christian Yelich, who has missed the past three games with discomfort in his lower back.
“Yeli is about the same,” Murphy said. “We just don’t feel like making a decision yet on the IL is prudent. We feel like we can wait until the last minute to do it and see if he feels much better (on Tuesday).”
Right-hander Dylan Cease (1-1, 2.16 ERA) will start for San Diego on Tuesday. Cease earned his first victory with the Padres last Wednesday after giving up two unearned runs over six innings in a 10-2 win over the Chicago Cubs.
Cease, 28, has made three starts since being acquired from the Chicago White Sox on March 13.
Cease made his only previous start against Milwaukee as a member of the White Sox on Aug. 13, 2023, when he allowed two runs and five hits over seven frames in Chicago’s 7-3 loss.
–Field Level Media