Jose Iglesias, Jackson Merrill hit home runs as Padres beat Giants again, 5-1

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jose Iglesias hit a two-run homer in the second inning, Jackson Merrill connected in the eighth for insurance, and the San Diego Padres beat the struggling San Francisco Giants 5-1 on Tuesday night.

San Diego moved into a first-place tie with the Dodgers in the NL West race after Los Angeles lost to the Angels in 10 innings — a position Padres manager Mike Shildt expected his club to be for the season's stretch run.

Jake Croneworth contributed an RBI single in the fourth and Jason Adam (8-3) worked out of a bases-loaded jam by getting the final two outs of the sixth for the win.

The Padres took a lead in the first getting Manny Machado's two-out single followed by a double from Xander Bogaerts before Robbie Ray (9-6) was called for a balk that brought home the first run.

San Francisco — which lost for the 12th time in 13 home games — tied it on Wilmer Flores' two-out single in the bottom half. Heliot Ramos broke a bat over his knee in frustration in the second following strikeouts in consecutive at-bats.

The Giants dropped their fourth straight game and Ray's winless stretch reached seven starts since beating Arizona on July 3 in Phoenix. The lefty allowed four runs on seven hits over six innings, struck out four and walked one.

San Diego's Nestor Cortes struck out six with one walk while giving up one run and six hits in 4 2/3 innings.

San Francisco's Dominic Smith extended his career-best hitting streak to 15 games with a pinch-hit single to load the bases in the sixth and chase David Morgan.

The Padres secured their season-best fifth straight winning series and improved to 8-1-2 over their last 11 series dating to July 4-6 against Texas.

RHP Nick Pivetta (11-4, 2.94 ERA) pitches the series finale for San Diego, while the Giants send RHP Kai-Wei Teng (1-1, 5.40) to the mound for his second start and third appearance of 2025.

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