Central Plains FFA Chapter

09/20 17:44 CDT Cronenworth homers twice, Padres beat Marlins 7-3 to lower wild-card magic number to 2 Cronenworth homers twice, Padres beat Marlins 7-3 to lower wild-card magic number to 2 By BERNIE WILSON Associated Press Jake Cronenworth hit a pair of two-run homers and drove in five runs for the San Diego Padres, who beat the Miami Marlins 7-3 on Sunday to move closer to clinching their third straight postseason berth. Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his 25th homer for the Padres, who won for the 13th time in 14 games and swept the Marlins for the second time this season. San Diego reduced its magic number to two for earning a wild-card spot. The Padres and Cubs remain tied at 87-69 for the top wild-card spot with six games to go, although Chicago holds the tiebreaker. Philadelphia stayed one game back. The top wild-card team will host a best-of-three opening series. The Cubs beat the Padres 2-1 in the wild-card round last year in Chicago. Cronenworth lofted a two-run shot into the home run porch in the right-field corner off Sandy Alcantara (13-11) with two outs in the second. He connected again to right off Bradley Blalock with two outs in the eighth, his seventh. It was his second career multihomer game. Walker Buehler took a one-hitter and a 4-0 lead into the seventh before allowing Javier Sanoja's three-run homer to left with two outs, his 10th. That was it for Buehler (9-6), who allowed three runs and three hits while striking out six and walking two in a season-high 6 2/3 innings. He retired 11 straight at one point. Tatis homered into the Padres bullpen in left-center off Blalock leading off the seventh. It's his fourth career 25-homer season. Cronenworth and Samad Taylor hit consecutive RBI singles in the fourth. Alcantara allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings, struck out three and walked one.

Up next Marlins RHP Janson Junk (6-9, 4.50 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series at the Chicago Cubs. The Padres haven't named a starter for Tuesday night's series opener at the Los Angeles Dodgers. ___ See AP's full MLB coverage here