OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Juan Soto hit a sacrifice fly and drew a bases-loaded walk, Matt Waldron struck out five pitching into the sixth for his first major league victory, and the San Diego Padres secured a series win for manager Bob Melvin against his former Oakland club by beating the Athletics 5-2 on Saturday.
Soto put the Padres on the board in the first on the sacrifice fly and Xander Bogaerts hit an RBI single one batter later to stake San Diego to a quick lead in support of Waldron (1-3).
San Diego scored a pair of two-out runs in the fifth when A's first baseman Ryan Noda bungled a hard one-hop RBI single by Brett Sullivan that ricocheted off the A's fielder before he scooped up the ball and wildly threw it into the A's dugout for an error. Two errors were initially ruled on the play before Sullivan was credited with a base hit.
Fernando Tatis Jr., who on Friday became the first Padres player ever with multiple seasons with 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases, doubled and scored a run.
Josh Hader pitched the ninth for his 29th save.
After two more walks that inning loaded the bases, A's rookie right-hander Mason Miller (0-3) struck out Matthew Batten to avoid further damage. Miller opened for Luis Medina, who struck out seven but walked four over 3 2/3 innings.
RECORD WOES
The A's matched last year's loss total of 102 and have back-to-back 100-loss campaigns for the first time since 1964-65.
Their 204 defeats the past two years are also the most in consecutive seasons since 208 during that '64-65 stretch.
PROSPECT WATCH
Right-hander Joe Boyle was around the A's clubhouse and has joined the team — with the chance he could be promoted to the major league roster as soon as Sunday and be in line for his big league debut. Boyle has pitched at Triple-A Las Vegas and Double-A Midland since being acquired by Oakland from Cincinnati on July 31 in the trade that sent Sam Moll to the Reds.
The 24-year-old Boyle is 8-8 with a 3.84 ERA over 25 total starts including the Reds' Double-A Chattanooga affiliate — making three starts each for Las Vegas and Midland.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: 2B Ha-Seong Kim was back in the lineup after turning his ankle following a sixth-inning steal of second on Friday night. ... 1B Ji-Man Choi made his first appearance since coming off the 10-day injured list Friday from a left ribcage strain that sidelined him for 29 games spanning a month.
UP NEXT
RHP Pedro Avila (1-2, 3.63 ERA) will pitch Sunday in the series finale for the Padres opposite scheduled Oakland starter LHP Ken Waldichuk (3-7, 5.14), who has allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of his last seven outings dating to Aug. 8.
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