FriarNotes: Led by O’Hearn, Merrill, Morejon, Padres reduce postseason Magic Number to 3; Notes on Arraez, Tatis, Miller; Wolf wins for streaking AAA-Chihuahuas; Jimmy Jones’ 1-hit MLB debut

By Bill Center

Photo of Jackosn Merrill at Rate Field

With Ryan O’Hearn, Jackson Merrill and Adrian Morejon leading the way, the Padres defeated the White Sox 7–3 in Chicago Saturday night to reduce their postseason-clinching Magic Number to three over Cincinnati and two over Arizona.

The San Francisco Giants no longer have a shot at unseating the Padres.

— O’Hearn delivered the big blow Saturday night, a three-run double in the Padres’ decisive four-run sixth. O’Hearn went 3-for-4 and now has five doubles, three home runs and 15 RBIs in 154 plate appearances with the Padres. Between his time with the Orioles and Padres, O’Hearn has career-highs of 16 homers and 121 hits in 2025.

— Merrill had a double and a solo home run Saturday night, going 2-for-4 with a walk, a RBI and three runs. The home run was Merrill’s sixth in the last 13 games and 12th extra-base hit in his last 13 games (five doubles, two triples and six homers) since Sept. 16. Merrill is tied for the Major League lead in home runs over the last 13 games and tied for second in extra-base hits. Since Sept. 5, Merrill has gone 18-for-56 (.321) with two walks, 11 RBIs and 13 runs for a .333 on-base percentage and a .804 slugging percentage for a 1.125 OPS.

— Left-hander Morejon allowed a hit and a walk in 1 1/3 scoreless innings Saturday to lower his earned run average to 2.07 while earning his 13th win of the season. That is the Padres single-season record for wins by a reliever (topping the old mark of 11 shared by Rollie Fingers and Butch Metzger) and is the most by a National League reliever since Roger McDowell had 14 in 1986 for the New York Mets. Elroy Face established the Major League record for wins by a relief pitcher with 19 in 1959.

PAD BITS:

— Luis Arraez was 1-for-5 with a RBI Saturday to extend his hitting streak to nine straight games. He is 13-for-37 (.351) during the streak.

— RHP Mason Miller issued a walk with 2 strikeouts in a hitless, scoreless inning. He is working on a streak of 18 1/3 straight scoreless innings as a Padre, that has lowered his ERA as a Padre to 0.89 with a 0.689 WHIP. He now has 38 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings with the Padres (an average of 13.7 strikeouts per 9 innings).

— Fernando Tatis Jr. was 1-for-5 with 2 stolen bases and 2 runs scored Saturday. He is 6-for-16 in a 4-game hitting streak. He now has a career-high 32 steals on the season with 107 runs scored. He moved into fourth on the Padres’ all-time runs scored list Saturday with 472.

Photo of Fernando Tatis Jr. at Rate Field

PADRES ON DECK:

Starting LHP Jackson Wolf (7–3, 5.47 ERA) gave up 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk with 3 strikeouts in 5 innings to earn the win Saturday night as Triple-A El Paso defeated Sugar Land 5–3 in the penultimate game of the Pacific Coast League season.

RF Yonathan Perlaza (.308) was 1-for-4 with a walk, a steal, his franchise record 113th RBI and 2 runs. DH Luis Campusano (.336) was 1-for-2.

AROUND THE FARM:

TRIPLE-A EL PASO (43–30, 81–67) — Chihuahuas 5, SUGAR LAND 3–2B Nate Mondou (.310) was 1-for-3 with a sacrifice fly and 2 RBIs as El Paso improved to 9–3 over the past 12 games. 1B Tim Locastro (.270) was 1-for-4 with a double, walk, 2 steals and 2 runs. 3B Marcos Castañon (.321) had a triple in 3 at-bats with a walk and a run. RHP Alex Jacob (5.27) had a strikeout in a perfect inning for his second save.

PADRES HISTORY:

Sept. 21, 1978 — RHP Gaylord Perry allows 4 hits and a walk with 5 strikeouts in 7 innings to get his 20th win of the season as the Padres score a 5–1 win over the Giants at San Diego Stadium. Perry joins Randy Jones (twice) as the only Padre pitchers to win 20 games in a season.

Sept. 21, 1986 — In his Major League debut, RHP Jimmy Jones, the Padres’ first-round draft pick in 1982, throws a complete-game 1-hitter in the Padres’ 5–0 win at Houston. The only hit off Jones is a third-inning triple by pitching rival Bob Knepper. Jones faces one hitter over the minimum as he allows no walks with 5 strikeouts.