Padres' Jackson Merrill: Goes deep Saturday

Merrill went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in a loss to St. Louis on Saturday.

Merrill hadn't homered in 15 games coming into Saturday, but he snapped that drought with a solo shot to center field in the third inning. The second-year outfielder's power output has been tepid for over two months -- he has just three long balls over his past 51 contests after going deep five times in his first 29 games of the campaign. Merrill certainly looks to be going through a bit of a sophomore slump, as his steals are also down (from 16 last year to just one this season) and his OPS (.734) is nearly 100 points lower than the .826 mark he posted as a rookie.