Darvish throws 6 strong innings, Merrill and Profar homer as the Padres beat the Astros 3-1

Yu Darvish had his best outing since being sidelined for more than three months, and rookie Jackson Merrill and Jurickson Profar homered as the San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros 3-1 on Monday night. The Padres took a 2 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the top NL wild card and stayed 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. Houston's lead in the AL West dropped to four games over idle Seattle.