SAN DIEGO_There was limited offense Tuesday at Petco Park. The home team did not have its best showing on defense.
But in the bottom of the sixth, like an oasis in a desert, a pair of hits materialized. They were, in fact, the first two hits off the Minnesota starter Jose Berrios.
Because the San Diego Padres pitched better than they swung or defended, those hits would have been enough. Then Austin Hedges made certain.
After drilling a double for the Padres' second hit of the night, the catcher stepped to the plate again in the bottom of the eighth. He launched a two-run homer, the exclamation point on a 3-0 shutout of the Twins.
Hedges, who recently missed two weeks due to a concussion, finished with half of the Padres' four hits. He caught seven shutout frames by Jhoulys Chacin, who continued his recent run of quality outings. Over his last 11 starts, the right-hander has recorded a 2.49 ERA.
Berrios no-hit the Padres for five innings. Leading off the bottom of the sixth, Hunter Renfroe ended Berrios' dominance with an infield single. Hedges crushed a double over the head of right fielder Max Kepler. Manuel Margot lined a sacrifice fly to center, breaking a scoreless tie.
Chacin navigated around a leadoff single in the seventh. The Padres turned a double play. After another single, Chacin stranded the runner by freezing Jason Castro with strike three.
Early on, Chacin did not benefit from solid defense. The Padres committed a pair of errors behind him in the third. He stranded two runners in that inning. Overall, he yielded just three hits and two walks, striking out three.
Kirby Yates retired the side in the eighth. After Hedges' lead-padding homer, Brad Hand took the mound in the ninth.
Hand, whom the Padres declined to move Monday at the trade deadline, delighted the home crowd. He struck out Miguel Sano looking. He struck out Joe Mauer swinging. Then he induced a fly out, sealing the victory and his seventh save of the season.
With second baseman Carlos Asuaje and third baseman Cory Spangenberg in the lineup, Yangervis Solarte made his third major league start at shortstop.
"What we're probably looking at with him is bouncing around a little bit," manager Andy Green said before the game. "I don't know that he's going to slide into an everyday shortstop type of role, but it's a way to get all of the bats on the field that we really believe impact the baseball game."
With the Padres holding a slim lead, Dusty Coleman replaced Solarte at shortstop in the eighth.
