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SAN DIEGO — Yu Darvish had his best outing since being sidelined for more than three months, and rookie Jackson Merrill and Jurickson Profar homered as the San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros 3-1. The Padres took a 2 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the top NL wild card and stayed 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. Houston's lead in the AL West dropped to four games over idle Seattle. Padres leadoff hitter Luis Arraez struck out for the first time since Aug. 10, snapping a streak of 141 plate appearances without whiffing. He went down swinging against rookie Spencer Arrighetti to end the second inning. It tied Padres Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn for the fifth-longest streak in the last 40 seasons.
