Perdomo's double-play achievement paces Padres
MIAMI -- Luis Perdomo induced six double-play balls and Luis Sardinas had the go-ahead RBI double as the San Diego Padres defeated the Miami Marlins 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at Marlins Park.
The six double plays are a Marlins record. It is also a record for the Padres in a nine-inning game. It was the first complete game in the career of Perdomo, who threw 99 pitches.
The Marlins (67-63), locked in a race for the NL wild card, lost two of three games to San Diego (55-75). The Marlins are 10-15 in August, having completed a disappointing 2-4 homestand.
With just three games left in August, Sunday's loss clinched Miami's first losing month of the season.
Perdomo (7-7), a 23-year-old rookie who had never pitched above Class A before this season, has the best ground-ball rate (59 percent) of any NL pitcher with at least 100 innings this year.
With his sinker working, Perdomo got just two fly outs and two strikeouts, and the rest came on ground balls.
Perdomo, a Dominican Republic native and a former Rule 5 draft pick, allowed six hits, three walks and one run. He lowered his ERA from 6.24 to 5.84.
Justin Nicolino (2-6), recalled from Triple-A New Orleans just in time for Sunday's game after scheduled starter Andrew Cashner was scratched with a finger blister, took the loss. Nicolino allowed eight hits and three runs in six innings.
Miami opened the scoring in the second on doubles by J.T. Realmuto and Xavier Scruggs, who earned the two-out RBI by jumping on the first pitch.
San Diego went ahead 2-1 in the fourth. Left fielder Alex Dickerson, who was inserted into the lineup only after first baseman Wil Myers was a late scratch, hit a ground-rule double to right and scored on Ryan Schimpf's triple.
Schimpf was thrown out at the plate on a grounder to shortstop by Adam Rosales. But after Rosales stole second, he scored on Sardinas' double.
The Padres extended their lead to 3-1 in the sixth. Schimpf was hit by a Nicolino pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With two outs and a 3-2 pitch, Rosales singled to left, scoring Schimpf from second.
NOTES: Padres 1B Wil Myers (stomach virus) was scratched minutes before the start of the game. ... Marlins SS Adeiny Hechavarria was rested in favor of Miguel Rojas. Hechavarria's career OPS is .635, but it's .559 this August, his worst month of the year. He also has a .723 road OPS this year but just .524 at home. ... Padres CF Travis Jankowski's 24-game streak of reaching base, which was stopped on Saturday, was the second longest in the majors this year among rookies. Jankowski leads all major-league rookies this year in steals, ranks second in walks and fifth in runs. ... The Marlins open a seven-game trip on Monday with the first of four contests against the New York Mets, their rivals in the NL wild-card race. ... The Padres are off on Monday and then start a three-game series at the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday.