SAN DIEGO — It's OK, too, to score just enough and let Yu Darvish do his thing.
It wasn't what the Padres necessarily wanted or anticipated or what it looked like would happen early. But a 4-3 victory over the young and not-very-good Royals went down that way Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium.
The Padres did not hesitate to declare the need to follow up what they did Friday with another game like it.
"It's the most important thing that we've had all year," Wil Myers said Friday night. "I mean, we're at this stretch now where everything is right in front of us, and we've got to go out there and get it done. We can't go through another stretch where we struggle and then have another big game. We've got to keep having good games, good solid games, hitting with runners in scoring position like we did tonight."
The Padres did not score in double digits again, nor did they have eight hits with runners in scoring position. But they did capitalize on early opportunities and win their second consecutive game.
After going up big with three runs in the first inning, one in the second and two in the third Friday, the Padres fell behind 3-0 Saturday before Darvish settled in and the offense lit up for a time.
Myers' second home run in two days got the Padres to 3-2 in the second inning, they added two more in the third.
Darvish survived a laborious start, in which he threw 51 pitches in the first two innings and finished seven innings while throwing just 51 more pitches.
It was his 17th consecutive game going at least six innings, the second-longest active streak in the major leagues behind Framber Valdez's run of 21 in a row with Houston. It was Darvish's 12th time this season he went at least seven innings, more than all but two pitchers in the major leagues.
The in-game recovery was one few pitchers could pull off.
After getting his first out of the game with a three-pitch strikeout, Darvish was suddenly unable to consistently locate any pitch for a time.
He took 31 more pitches to get through the first inning, and it was the Royals who scored three runs in the first inning this time. They did it on a walk, two singles, a double and a hit batter.
After Myers got back two of the runs, the bottom of the second was another slog for Darvish. But after a walk, a single and a balk put runners at the corners with one out, Darvish got out of the inning without another run being scored by getting a shallow fly ball to right field from Salvador Perez and striking out Ryan O'Hearn.
José Azocar led off the third with his third infield single in two days, went to second on Ha-Seong Kim's sacrifice bunt and to third on a single by Juan Soto, who was back in the lineup after resting and rehabbing a balky back the previous four days. Azocar then scored on Manny Machado's single to right field.
Darvish was done messing around by that point.
He worked a perfect third, fourth and fifth in 27 pitches. A bunt single by Michael Massey with two outs in the sixth halted a streak of 13 straight outs for Darvish, but after a stolen base and interference call on Kim put Massey at third, Darvish ended the inning by getting a groundout.
Robert Suarez allowed a two-out single in the eighth before ending his ninth straight scoreless inning with a strikeout.
Nick Martinez also allowed a two-out single in the ninth before finishing his sixth save — his second since taking over as the temporary closer for the struggling Josh Hader.
The Padres didn't add on as they had the night before, when they made a 6-5 game into a 13-5 rout. But they did at least top four runs in successive games for the first time in more than two weeks.
And after going 8 for 13 with runners in scoring position Friday, they were 3 for 5 Saturday.
For all their failures with runners in scoring position and lack of power, inconsistency has been the Padres' predominant offensive trait, especially lately. They scored 10 runs in the final game of their previous road trip and then went the entirety of a six-game homestand without scoring more than three runs in a game.
Now for the next step — trying for their first series sweep in more than a month. Since taking three from the Diamondbacks at Petco Park June 20-22, they have gone into the final game of a series with a chance to complete a sweep three times. They have won more than two consecutive games just once in that span.
