SAN DIEGO_Offense arrived early Friday in the San Diego Padres' series opener against the visiting Miami Marlins. Manuel Margot led off the bottom of the first with a triple and came home on Erick Aybar's sacrifice fly. Marcell Ozuna homered in the top of the second.
And for six and a half innings, that was the extent of the scoring at Petco Park. Miami's Adam Conley and San Diego's Trevor Cahill took turns flummoxing the opposing lineup, turning a brief exchange of runs into a stalemate.
In the bottom of the seventh, one loud swing changed the tenor of the game. Catcher Austin Hedges' three-run homer off the third deck of the Western Metal building turned a pitchers' duel into what would be the Padres' third consecutive victory, 5-3 over the Marlins.
The Padres' battery fueled this latest win. While Hedges continued to unlock his raw power _ Friday's home run was his fourth in a week _ Cahill threw seven innings of one-run ball in his home debut.
A hanging curveball to Ozuna proved an isolated mistake. After J.T. Realmuto followed the tying blast with a single, Cahill retired the Marlins' next 15 batters. He allowed a total of three hits and one walk, striking out six.
The right-hander's seven innings represented the deepest he'd pitched into a game since Aug. 9, 2014. Before signing with his hometown team in January, Cahill had spent the last two seasons as a reliever.
Through three starts, the Vista High graduate has recorded a 3.44 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings.
Hedges ushered Cahill through Friday's outing, then took matters into his own hands. After a bases-loaded double play squeezed a run across in the bottom of the seventh, Hedges demolished a 2-2 fastball from reliever David Phelps, sending a 430-foot blast high and deep to left.
The home run was Hedges' second in as many games, his fourth in his last six. Since he started the season 0-for-24 at the plate, six of his nine hits have gone for extra bases.
Giancarlo Stanton launched a two-run homer in the top of the ninth. Brad Hand recovered from the blow to close out the game.
