Ryan O’Hearn broke the game open with a tie-breaking 3-run double to spark a 4-run 6th inning, and the San Diego Padres moved closer to making the playoffs for a 2nd straight year, beating the Chicago White Sox 7-3 on the road to even the series at a game apiece after the ChiSox beat their former teammate Dylan Cease last night.

O’Hearn’s double to left field in the 6th came after San Diego took advantage of 3 wild pitches and 3 walks while chasing White Sox starter Yoendrys Gómez (3-3).

Fernando Tatis Jr. got the go-ahead rally started with a leadoff single and scored from 3rd when Manny Machado knocked Gómez out of the game with a game-tying single. Fraser Ellard then walked 3 of the 5 Pads’ hitters he faced and gave up the go-ahead hit- O’Hearn’s double- making it 5-2.

Jackson Merrill homered leading off the 2nd inning, former White Sox player Gavin Sheets padded the Pads’ lead with an RBI single in the 8th, and Luis Arraez singled in another run in the 9th to finish up the scoring for San Diego.

Pads’ starter Yu Darvish lasted just 4 2/3 innings, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits and continuing a run of subpar starting pitching for the Padres. Dylan Cease was ripped yesterday, Michael King and Randy Vasquez were both tagged by the Mets in their last starts.

Adrian Morejon (13-5) threw 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win.

Jeremiah Estrada and Mason Miller each worked a perfect inning, striking out 2 hitters apiece.

Robert Suarez gave up a solo home run to Lenyn Sosa in the 9th before closing it out for San Diego.

O'Hearn had 3 hits and 3 RBI’s, Merrill had 2 hits and scored 3 runs, Freddy Fermin had 2 hits and Fernando scored twice to lead the Padres’ offense.

The Pads had some success against Gómez, the Chicago starter, scoring 3 runs on 6 hits in 5 1/3 innings.

The win snaps a 2-game losing streak for the Padres, (84-71) who now sit 4 games behind the LA Dodgers in the NL West race with 7 games left. They are currently in the 2nd wild card spot, 4 games behind the 1st-place Chicago Cubs and  4 games ahead of the 3rd-place New York Mets. The Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants tonight. The Cubs and Mets both lost.

It’s looking like the Pads will be right back in Chicago in less than 2 weeks to play the Cubs in the NL Wild Card opening round.

The White Sox lost for the 7th time in 8 games, with the only win coming against Cease and the Pads last night.

***** ‘LIVE’ Instant Post-Game Reaction from Jim “GRIES” Grieshaber

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The Padres and White Sox play the 3rd and final game of this series tomorrow in Chicago, with 1st pitch set for 11:10 am PT.

San Diego RHP Michael King (4-3, 3.84 ERA) and Chicago RHP Sean Burke (4-10, 4.29) meet in a matchup of right-handers.

We will be here right after the game with your PADRES POSTCAST, hosted by Jim "Gries" Grieshaber- 'LIVE' and FREE on YouTube right after the game, & uploaded wherever you get your audio content and ROKU right after the 'LIVE' show.

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