Michael King, Manny Machado shine as Padres take series opener against Giants

SAN DIEGO — Friday’s game had history and a scare, and it provided a bit of breathing room.

The San Diego Padres three early runs for the second straight night, but this time they added on and held on to beat the San Francisco Giants 5-1.

Along the way, they got excellent pitching, lost rookie Jackson Merrill and saw Manny Machado tie the franchise record for home runs.

Merrill fouled a ball off in the sixth inning. He finished his at-bat and played the top of the seventh in center field before being replaced in the eighth by Tyler Wade. It was announced he had left the game with a left patella bruise. X-rays were negative.

Machado homered in the first inning and led off the eighth with another blast, this one his 163rd as a member of the Padres. That tied Nate Colbert’s franchise record set from 1969 to ‘74.

Michael King allowed one run in six innings, Bryan Hoeing worked the next 1 1/3 innings, and Adrián Morejón got the final two outs in the top of the eighth.

Machado’s second home run gave a bit of extra cushion to Jeremiah Estrada, who was warming up as that half-inning began because closer Robert Suarez was unavailable due to his recent workload.

The victory, combined with the Diamondbacks’ loss to the Astros, increased the Padres’ lead in the race for the National League’s top wild-card spot to 1 1/2 games. It also maintained their three-game lead over the Mets and Braves, who both won and remained tied for the third and final NL playoff spot.

All season long, the Padres have been able to overcome brief periods of struggle.

That applies to in-game lulls, such as when they had one baserunner in a span of 14 batters Friday before getting another run on three singles in the fifth inning.

It also applies to bouncing back from game to game, avoiding any sense of deja vu. The Padres have lost more than one game just twice since mid-July and have not lost more than two straight in a span of 41 games.

It was just Thursday that they led the Detroit Tigers 3-0 after two innings and got 6 1/3 scoreless innings from Martín Pérez, only to lose 4-3 on a grand slam off closer Robert Suarez in the ninth.

They could not afford a repeat — not with the three games separating them from being out of the playoff picture.

They also faced the specter of not having Suarez at the end of a tight game.

King continued to give them a chance with his 12th quality start.

He retired the first eight batters he faced before yielding a two-out single in the third inning and allowed just four singles before Michael Conforto’s home run leading off the sixth inning.

The Padres scored three runs and saw 34 pitches from rookie right-hander Mason Black in the first inning.

The Padres’ aggression on the bases helped them to their first two runs, though not quite as much as Giants rookie shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald helped them.

After Luis Arraez and Fernando Tatis Jr. began the bottom of the first inning with singles, both tagged up on Jurickson Profar’s fly ball to the gap in right field. Fitzgerald cut off the throw and fired an ill-advised throw to second to try to get Tatis. The late throw was wide, sailing past second baseman Marco Luciano and into right field, where it rolled all the way into foul territory.

Arraez and Tatis ran home.

Machado followed with a home run to left field, his 162nd with the Padres, breaking a tie with Adrián González for second place and putting him one behind Nate Colbert.

Jake Cronenworth walked immediately after Machado’s home run before Black, making his fifth big-league start, reeled off nine consecutive outs.

Xander Bogaerts broke that streak with a one-out double in the fourth inning.

Black got the final two outs in that inning and the first two in the fifth before singles by Tatis and Profar drove him from the game.

Machado then sent the third pitch from reliever Sean Hjelle on a soft line into right field to push the Padres’ lead to 4-0.