Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres

Red-hot Jackson Merrill hit a monster go-ahead, two-run home run in the seventh inning and the Padres beat the Brewers, 3-2, on Monday night in the opener of a big three-game series at Petco Park. Merrill put a huge uppercut swing on an 83 mph changeup from Brewers starter Logan Henderson and drove it a Statcast-projected 431 feet to the base of the batters’ eye in straightaway center field with one out and Ty France aboard on a single. With a launch angle of 30 degrees, the moonshot put a charge into the sellout crowd at Petco Park and proved that the Padres can hang with baseball’s best team. The homer set the tone for the rest of the series and allowed the Padres to bring on relievers Yuki Matsui, Adrian Morejon and All-Star Mason Miller, who earned his National League-leading 30th save. “These games are all going to be close,” manager Craig Stammen said. “We got the big home run at the end to take the lead and we were able to get to our bullpen, which is the strength of our team. But it’s going to be a tightly contested series. I would expect two more games just like tonight.” Merrill hollered and pumped his right fist after rounding first base. His nine homers since the All-Star break are the most in the Majors. It was the third time in his career that Merrill has homered in three straight games. “I’m just being aggressive in the box,” Merrill said. “I'm not afraid to swing and miss. I try to take my walks when I can but I’m not afraid to swing and miss. “I’m just playing baseball and having fun." “I think anytime right now, the way he’s taking at-bats, he can hit anything out,” Stammen said. “He was really struggling with that high fastball there for a while and now he's starting to tag a few of those. He just missed one earlier in the game. It was just that time of game where their starting pitcher was wearing down just a little bit. Velocity was starting to creep down and Ty gets on with a big base hit and Jackson puts him away with a homer to dead center. It was awesome.”