SAN FRANCISCO _ The Padres did not sweep a series this season until their first matchup after the All-Star break. They took three of three games from San Francisco at Petco Park. Some of the sour taste from an 0-9 first-half record against the Giants dissipated.
Wednesday at AT&T Park, the Padres sealed their second sweep of the season and their first here since 2010, scoring a 3-1 victory over a team clinging to a wild-card spot. If the Giants' even-year magic finally runs out, they can point to a mid-July visit to San Diego as the start of their downfall.
Padres rookie right-hander Luis Perdomo led the way in a sixth consecutive win over the Giants. He out-pitched ace Madison Bumgarner, allowing one run over 61/3 innings while striking out five batters.
"It feels really good," Perdomo said through an interpreter. "We're coming out to compete every day, and I think that shouldn't get lost. We want to win, we want to beat them every day, regardless of what they're doing."
In this same stadium on April 27, Perdomo surrendered three runs over two innings of relief. The Padres were rocked that day in a 13-9 defeat.
Much has changed for them since, particularly in terms of roster construction. Perdomo, for instance, has gone from overwhelmed Rule 5 reliever to arguably the Padres' best second-half starter. In fact, he is the only member of the rotation who was with the team on opening day.
"Just the lack of fear, I think that's been the most impressive thing," Padres shortstop Luis Sardinas said through an interpreter. "Seeing him out there on the mound and knowing that he's pitching without fear."
Sardinas, a much more recent arrival, continued to surge with his new organization. Acquired from Seattle in exchange for cash, the 23-year-old has faced more questions about his bat than about his glove. His production so far has been a cause for encouragement.
Sardinas went 3-for-5, tying a career high for hits, scoring two of the Padres' runs and driving in another. Over his last six games, he is hitting .458 (11-for-24) with six runs and four RBIs.
Wednesday, he singled in the first and scored on Wil Myers' double, giving the Padres a 1-0 lead.
The Giants knotted the score in the second, when a lead-off walk issued by Perdomo came around to score. That would be the extent of San Francisco's offense.
"In the second inning, he got a little quick, and he made the adjustment," Padres manager Andy Green said of Perdomo. "When you see a young guy start to make in-game adjustments to get his sinker to work right again the rest of the game, I thought it was outstanding."
Sardinas, meanwhile, led off the sixth with a single, stole second and scored on Alex Dickerson's single. In the seventh, Adam Rosales opened with a double and scored on a two-out single from Sardinas.
In 21 games with the Padres, Sardinas is hitting .328 (22-for-67) with a .400 on-base percentage.
"I've always said that the only thing I was missing was having a chance to play every day," Sardinas said. "...I can show who I am and show them how I play if I'm getting that opportunity every day, and I want to show that I am an everyday shortstop."
Said Green: "You want to be a shortstop in the major leagues for a long period of time, there's more work to do out in front of him. But he's embracing that. He's playing hard, aggressive, every day. He's doing things on the bases, swinging the bat well."
Brad Hand relieved Perdomo in the seventh and struck out both batters he faced. With that, the left-hander joined Lance McCullers, Rollie Fingers, Trevor Hoffman, Heath Bell and Mark Davis as the only Padres relievers to record 100 strikeouts in a season.
"We said this yesterday with Ryan Schimpf _ it says a lot about our pro scouts," Green said. "They acknowledge, find people that other organizations don't want. They don't think they have value. We give them an opportunity here and watch them take off. He's been, if not the most dominant lefty in the game from a lefty-lefty standpoint, one of the most dominant."
In 110 at-bats against left-handed hitters this season, Hand has allowed a .127 average and amassed 42 strikeouts
In a scoreless eighth, Ryan Buchter, another find by the Padres' scouting department, also struck out a pair of batters. Padres closer Brandon Maurer retired the side in the ninth.
