Daulton Varsho slugs solo homer in loss to A’s

Montgomery’s home run was his fifth of the season. He hit a solo shot off Christian Scott in the second inning. Montgomery got the day off Friday as he had been hitting .192 in his last 20 games. He returned with a big fly and a bases-loaded walk Saturday. Montgomery is hitting .235 with a .705 OPS and 32 RBI.

Bichette’s home run was his 14th of the season. He hit a solo shot off Luis Castillo in the third inning. Bichette’s slugging percentage is down more than 50 points since last year. His home run Saturday was his fourth in August after he failed to hit a big fly in July. Bichette is hitting .268 with a .712 OPS and 66 RBI.

Benge’s home run was his 16th of the season. He hit a solo shot off White Sox reliever Tyler Schweitzer in the fifth inning. Benge’s home run gives him five home runs in his last 16 games and he’s 22-for-63 (.349) with 12 RBI in that span. He’s hitting .276 with a .761 OPS and 53 RBI this year.

Merrill’s solo homer put the Padres on the board and gave the outfielder his 20th of the season. He also singled and walked, and that improves his slash to .241/.292/.412 on the season. He’s been considerably better than that mark over the last two months, however, as he’s forged an OPS above .800 in both July and August. It’d be nice to see more consistency after he looked like such a ‘sure thing’ after his rookie season, but even this version of Merrill has his place.

Canning was able to keep the Twins off the board after Casey Mize had to exit his outing due to injury after just 2 1/3 frames. Canning wasn’t exactly dominant with just a single strikeout and four swings-and-misses generated, but kudos to him for keeping San DIego in the game long enough for them to comeback for the win. If Mize can’t go next week, it’s feasible Canning could get a start, though with any luck, the Padres will also be getting Joe Musgrove back next weekend.

Miller didn’t allow a hit and struck out a hitter while not issuing a walk. He’s now given up only one run in August, after giving up just one run in July after giving up, well, you get it. Miller has been nothing short of dominant in his first full season as the closer of the Padres, and is now up to 32 saves and down to a 0.83 ERA.

Kremer’s only blemishes were a homer by Jackson Merrill and a Xander Bogaerts single before the sixth, but he did give up a double and walk before exiting that frame. The right-hander’s velocity was slightly down; averaging 92.1 mph on his fastball compared to his usual 93, but he was able to command that offering and the rest of his arsenal exceptionally well in one of his best starts of 2026. Kremer has now pitched well in two of his last three starts, but it’s hard to trust him to replicate these results next weekend in a scheduled bout against the White Sox.

Lee hit one of three homers off Casey Mize before Mize exited due to injury, and he also doubled and singled. The former first-round selection has put together a solid -- albeit unspectacular -- season in 2026 with 19 homers, 68 RBI and a .729 OPS. Keep in mind that Lee is still just 25 until February, so there’s a chance that we haven’t seen the best version of the infielder just yet.

Castillo gave up eight hits, walked one and struck out three. He fell to 4-10 with the loss. Castillo has now allowed eight hits and four runs while failing to complete five innings in back-to-back starts since blanking the Reds for seven innings on August 12. Castillo has a 5.19 ERA. He’s lined up to face the Twins on the road next week as he tries to reverse his downward trend.

Saying Adell got all of his homer off Gabriel Hughes is an understatement. It traveled an estimated 450 feet to center, and it had an exit velocity of 113.8 mph. That gives him 20 home runs on the season, and it might surprise you that he’s been able to drive in 77 runs despite not exactly playing for the best offenses in baseball. Adell is a very flawed player, but a flawed player who can knock the stuffing out of a baseball here and there.