San Diego, CA – Jason Marquis tossed an eight-inning gem and the San Diego Padres eked out a 1-0 win to earn their second shutout in a three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins at Petco Park.
By forcing 13 groundball outs and allowing just two hits over his final five innings of work, Marquis (4-2) won his third straight decision, with the help of a sacrifice fly from Yonder Alonso. The Padres had just four hits.
Huston Street struck out a pair in the ninth to record his eighth save of the season and preserve the Padres' fourth win in a row and 11th in 14 games.
Ricky Nolasco (2-4) struck out nine over seven innings, but received zero run support as the Marlins dropped their sixth game in eight tries, managing just a single run over the three-game set.
The Padres' only hits came from Chase Headley and Will Venable, who recorded two each and helped set up the only score of the game.
Back-to-back one-out singles from the duo in the sixth preceded a walk to Carlos Quentin, which loaded the bases. Alonso then upper cut a Nolasco offering into left, easily scoring Venable on the sac fly.
"I put myself in a bad situation there, lost us the game by walking Carlos Quentin on an 0-2 count," said Nolasco. I couldn't put him away, ended up walking him and that was the game right there."
Marquis was in cruise control after escaping a one-out, bases loaded jam in third. He got Adeiny Hechavarria to ground into an inning-ending double play and then retired 11 straight batters before facing his only other test.
"I commanded my fastball early, getting ahead of hitters," said Marquis. "It goes back to just being comfortable with my delivery and finding my arm slot."
In the seventh, he allowed consecutive two-out singles to Justin Ruggiano and Gregg Dobbs, but struck out Derek Dietrich to come away unscathed.
For the game, Marquis allowed only five hits and struck out three to lower his earned run average to 3.48 on the season.
Headley extended his hitting streak to 13 games, and is batting .417 (20- for-48) over the stretch.
The Marlins, sporting the worst record in the National League, had 17 hits during their stay in San Diego.
Game Notes
Miami was 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position ... Alonso recorded his 22nd RBI on the season ... Venable stole his fifth base ... Nolasco gave up just four hits and walked one ... The Padres will start a three-game series with the Rays in Tampa Bay on Friday ... The Marlins will play Friday in Los Angeles, where they will complete a 10-game road trip against the Dodgers.
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