Merrill looking more like himself again in 3-hit day at the plate

MIAMI -- Jackson Merrill had three hits, Ty France drove in three runs, and the Padres beat the Marlins, 7-2, on Saturday afternoon.

Here’s some instant reaction from loanDepot park:

One final statement before the Deadline?

Much has been said and written about the direction the Padres might take ahead of the Trade Deadline. But the reality is: There’s time for that direction to change if the results on the field change.

The Padres have won two straight games this weekend, and have now reeled in the Marlins, one of the teams they’re chasing in the NL playoff picture – with both teams at 52-53. The Diamondbacks lost to the Nationals on Saturday, so the Padres climbed within three games of the final NL Wild Card spot.

“They’ve been big [wins] for us, especially coming off those series in Atlanta and Kansas City,” France said, referencing the Padres’ 2-5 start to their road trip. “They’ve been complete wins, which has been nice. That’s kind of the baseball we’ve been searching for.”

San Diego has another game against Miami on Sunday, followed by a six-game homestand against the Rockies and Giants. Those are seven winnable games before the Aug. 3 Deadline -- even with the current state of the starting rotation.

It’s been a rough couple months for the Padres. Their 21-32 record since May 25 is the worst in the National League. It’s a roster that desperately needs help in the rotation. But in order to land that help, the current roster needs to prove worthy of buying at the Deadline. Seven games to go.

Making it work with what they have

In an ideal world, the Padres would love to have five starters working six innings every time out. But they don’t have the personnel for that.

So, they’re adjusting for the personnel they do have: A lockdown back end of the bullpen and a handful of starters-turned-long-men who can cover multiple innings.

No, this wasn’t technically a quality start, but Randy Vásquez and JP Sears combined for six innings of one-run ball. Call it a “quality piggyback.” Vásquez covered the first 2 2/3 innings, then Sears handled the next 3 1/3 frames.

“We talked about Randy going longer, and we talked about Randy going shorter, but that’s kind of what we settled on,” said manager Craig Stammen. “JP, we were going to let him take us to where we could get to the back end. We felt like we were in a good spot in the back end.

“Yuki [Matsui] did his job. We had it set up with Adrian [Morejon] and Mason [Miller]. We just didn’t need them today. Which is nice.”

Indeed, the offense did its part to create a cushion so Stammen could avoid using his two best relievers. Then, Matt Waldron nailed down the final two innings, preserving those high leverage arms for another day.

Merrill is back

Merrill is at his best when he’s using the entire field. And by that logic ... looks like he’s back at his best.

“We’ve all seen when he can go to left field, or right over the shortstop, left-center, home runs to dead center field,” Stammen said. “That’s the Jackson Merrill we all remember and want and love. Exciting to see him have a good game like that today.”

Both of Merrill’s doubles on Saturday went to the opposite field, tucked just fair inside the left-field foul line. Strangely enough, Merrill hadn’t doubled in more than a month, then had two on Saturday -- against hard-throwing Marlins right-hander Eury Pérez.

“That’s a good pitcher on the mound, pretty tough,” Merrill said. “Big guy, throws the ball hard. So just be short and try to use the whole field. He’s got good stuff, so you take the knocks where you can get ‘em. I just went up there trying to fight my [butt] off.”

Now that sounds more like the Merrill who nearly won NL Rookie of the Year in 2024, then mashed in ‘25 when he wasn’t dealing with injuries.

The start to Merrill’s ‘26 season was dreadful, but it looks like he’s beginning to move beyond that. He’s hitting .288 in July with a .864 OPS after his 3-for-4 showing on Saturday. Merrill played a key part in both late rallies that led to Padres insurance runs. Then, in the eighth, he cut down Otto Lopez trying to go first to third on a single with a perfect one-hop throw to third base.