Padres’ relief corps shuts down skidding Giants

Jose Iglesias and Jackson Merrill hit home runs, four San Diego relievers combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings, and the Padres made it two in a row over the San Francisco Giants with a 5-1 road triumph on Tuesday.
Ramon Laureano doubled, single and scored twice for the Padres, who won their fourth game in a row.
After the teams traded single runs in the first inning, San Diego took the lead for good when Laureano opened the second with a single and jogged home on Iglesias’ two-run homer to left field. It was Iglesias’ first long ball of the season.
San Diego tacked on single runs in the fourth (on an RBI double by Jake Cronenworth, scoring Laureano) and in the eighth (on Merrill’s ninth homer of the year).
Giants starter Robbie Ray (9-6) yielded four runs in six innings. He allowed seven hits and one walk while striking out four.
San Francisco lost its fourth game in a row.
That was the last of the San Francisco scoring. Padres starter Nestor Cortes teamed with relievers David Morgan, Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon and Robert Suarez to dance into and out of trouble, limiting the Giants to just the one run despite 10 hits.
Ahead 4-1 but facing a two-on, two-out situation, Cortes was pulled one out from a possible win in the fifth. Morgan came on to strike out Willy Adames and end the threat.
Adam (8-3), who took over for Morgan and worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out mess in the sixth to retain the three-run lead, was credited with the win. The Giants wound up stranding 11 baserunners.
Merrill joined Laureano with two hits apiece for the Padres, who have won six of eight against the Giants this season.
Schmitt had a career-high-tying four hits and Flores added two hits for the Giants, who fell to 1-4 on their nine-game homestand.