Braves edge Padres thanks to strong pitching from Elder, Mederos

The 25-year-old, acquired by the Braves via trade with the Angels in April, earned his first career save.

“My family and I have been working very hard to get to where I’m at right now,” Mederos said. “Just so thankful to God, so thankful for the opportunity that you know He’s given me. Just being here and worked and was faithful to Him, and was able to just keep working and trusting in His plan, and just very, very blessed to be able to have this opportunity and all glory in his name.”

Mederos’ efforts were even more crucial given the Braves’ bullpen situation going into Monday’s affair. Only he, Danny Young, Elieser Hernández and Tyler Kinley were available to pitch in the fourth game of 17 in a row for the Braves.

None of the team’s high-leverage arms could go because of their usage over the weekend in a series win against the Rangers.

“Honestly, I just I was talking to (Braves bullpen coach) J.P. (Martinez) today, and he was just like, ‘How many you got? I was like, ‘I got everything you want me to get.’ So I just went out there and I took it one batter at a time,” Mederos said. “I didn’t know what was gonna happen. I just trusted in God and trusted in what the catcher (Joey Bart) was putting down, which (Bart) did an amazing job. We were on the same page the whole way and was able to get the job done.”

Offensively, the Braves (58-41) got two solo home runs to run their record to 31-7 this season when hitting multiple long balls. They also improved to 49-1 when leading after eight innings and 14-3 in series openers at home.

Both starting pitchers had cruised through three innings until Elder blinked in the top of the fourth with one out. Elder’s first-pitch slider to Manny Machado was banged 402 feet for a solo home run just over the wall in left center. It was Machado’s 20th homer of the season and 11th long ball Elder has allowed in his last 11 starts.

Padres starter JP Sears (2-3), meanwhile, was perfect through 3 1/3 innings in making just his fifth start of the season, two of which have now come against the Braves (Sears allowed two earned runs in a 5-2 Padres win in San Diego on June 24). Ozzie Albies’ single in the fourth broke up Sears’ no-hitter.

Michael Harris II then ruined Sears’ shutout by turning on an 0-1 sweeper and depositing it into the Chop House seats in right field. It was Harris’ 18th home run of the season — two short of his career high with 63 games left on the schedule — and fourth in the month of July.

The Braves then caught a break when Padres catcher Freddy Fermin was called for catcher’s interference on a Mauricio Dubón swing. That put Dubón on first, but not for long because Joey Bart went down and rolled a low change-up down the third-base line for an RBI double that gave the Braves the lead.

Albies cushioned the lead in sixth with a solo home run, his 15th of the season, off Padres reliever Wandy Peralta. Albies hit a hanging sinker 393 feet into the visitor’s bullpen in left field.

Ty France countered for the Padres (49-51) by hitting Elder’s first pitch into the left field seats.

That was the last pitch Elder (6-6) threw, his 77th of the night, and he was pulled and replaced by lefty Danny Young. The two home runs allowed by Elder on Monday ran his total to 14 surrendered in his last 10 outings.

But all things considered, Elder looked more like the pitcher who was on track to be an All-Star in the season’s first two months than the pitcher who beat up time and time again in June.

“It’s kind of been a while since I would consider myself kind of rolling out there and kind of being comfortable with the stuff and being able to make pitches,” Elder said. “So felt really good, and we got some work to do still. A lot of season left. We got to keep rolling.”

After Elder’s departure, Young allowed a single before getting a pair of groundouts to shortstop. Mederos came into the battle, and after a walk, got Sung-Mun Song to fly out to center field to end the threat.

The Padres went quietly from there into the night as Mederos put them to rest to avoid a nightmare scenario for the Braves’ bullpen.

“(Martinez) and I have talked a lot. Every time we go out there, it’s a one-run ball game. No matter what happens, no matter if we’re up by 10, we’re up by 15, we’re down by one, we’re down by 20. It doesn’t matter what the score is,” Mederos said. “Every time we go out there, it’s a one-run ball game, and just give everything you got.

“And at the end of the day, only God knows what’s gonna happen, and I just trusted in that. Trusted that I can get the job done, and you know I was the guy for that moment.”