For San Diego Padres fans, Jackson Merrill at-bats prior to the All-Star break took on a sad sameness. Opposing pitchers would get ahead in the count, then get him to chase a high fastball or an off-speed pitch in the dirt for another strikeout.

Since the All-Star break, Merrill has looked like the franchise player everyone expects him to be. His third-inning homer on Saturday, his seventh since the break, and two RBIs helped San Diego gain ground in the National League wild-card race with a 3-2 win over the visiting Houston Astros.

Merrill will try to keep his hot streak going on Sunday night when the teams finish their three-game weekend series in San Diego. The Astros took a 6-3 win in the opener.

When the Padres took four days off for the All-Star break, Merrill's average sat at a miserable .219, far below the .292 he hit as a rookie and .264 during an injury-plagued 2025. It's now at .242, a gain of 23 points in 22 games.

What's different?

"Playing looser and freer," manager Craig Stammen said of Merrill. "Something clicked in Kansas City and since then, he's been on fire. It shows you how mentally tough he is. He's one of those players you build a team around."

Something to be sajd about Merrill is that when he hits the ball hard to the opposite field, he's about to go on a tear. In a 19-2 rout of Kansas City on July 19, he drilled a pair of home runs -- 405 and 419 feet. Balls have flown a long way and at a high velocity since then.

Merrill's homer helped San Diego move within a game of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies for the final NL wild-card spot, as both lost at home in extra innings.

The Padres had not named a starter for the series finale as of Sunday morning, although Randy Vasquez (7-6, 4.19 ERA) is expected to start or serve as a bulk reliever. He's coming off a 9-4 win at Arizona on Tuesday night that saw him fire six shutout innings, allowing just two hits and a walk.

Vasquez has made just one career appearance against the Astros, a two-inning stint in 2023 when he allowed one hit in relief.

Houston is expected to start Cristian Javier (1-2, 6.59), who returned to the rotation Monday night in a 3-1 loss to Toronto. He yielded seven hits and three runs in six innings, walking none and striking out two. Javier has no record in three career outings (one start) against the Padres with a 9.00 ERA. He has allowed four home runs in nine innings.

Astros manager Joe Espada said that the rotation, which has been a source of concern most of the year, is by no means written in ink as they try to hold on in the American League West.

"Looking at the performance, matchups, just kind of go day-by-day," he said. "That's how we're going to kind of move forward here for the next couple of weeks."

Javier, who went 11-9 with a 2.54 ERA in 2022 when Houston won the World Series, has pitched only 24 games since 2023 due to injury. He replaced ineffective rookie Tatsuya Imai, who in 16 games is 6-4 but owns a 5.55 ERA, in the rotation.

The Astros go into the series finale with a half-game lead on Texas in the American League West after their loss and the Rangers' 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.