(Photo credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images)

Fernando Tatis Jr. has roared out of the gate and is playing at an MVP level, while Jackson Merrill, Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth each have an adjusted OPS above 150.

So many elements are clicking for the San Diego Padres that it comes as no surprise that they own the best record in the majors as they prepare to play a three-game interleague road series starting Friday against the Houston Astros.

Perhaps an overlooked component to the Padres' success is their collective willingness to take walks. The Padres recorded seven walks in their 4-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, with their patience at the plate serving as a complement to their power potential. The Padres rank eighth in the majors with a 9.9 percent walk rate.

'We do a lot of things well that reflect being a top offense in our game,' said Padres manager Mike Shildt, whose team has kept on winning with Merrill (hamstring) on the injured list. 'I will say the thing that can be underrated, but not for me, is the walks.'

Left-hander Kyle Hart (2-0, 5.40 ERA) has the starting assignment for the Padres on Friday. He twirled six shutout innings at the Colorado Rockies in a 2-0 win on Saturday, allowing one hit while recording four strikeouts. That followed an appearance where Hart allowed five runs on two hits and four walks while recording only two outs in the Padres' 8-7 win over the Cubs on April 6.

Before winning his season debut against the Cleveland Guardians on March 31, Hart last appeared in the majors on Sept. 1, 2020, when he surrendered six runs on seven hits over two innings of relief against the Atlanta Braves while pitching for the Boston Red Sox.

Hart will make his first career appearance against the Astros. He is 1-0 with an 8.44 ERA across three career interleague appearances (two starts).

Rookie right-hander Ryan Gusto (1-1, 3.00 ERA) will make his second career start for the Astros in the series opener. He took the loss in the Astros' 4-1 setback to the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday after allowing three runs on four hits and one walk with six strikeouts over four innings.

He joined the rotation when right-hander Spencer Arrighetti (thumb) landed on the injured list. He was 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in four relief appearances before his first start.

Gusto will make his first career appearance against the Padres.

The Astros mustered only four hits in their 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday. Houston has yet to win consecutive games this season and continues to labor offensively, tied for 25nd in batting average (.216), tied for 21st in on-base percentage (.300) and 27th in slugging percentage (.317) and OPS (.617).

Only seven teams have hit fewer home runs than the Astros' 14 this season.

The Astros have sought alternate means to generate offense. The Astros are 11th in the majors with 17 stolen bases and rank 13th in baserunning with 0.2 baserunning runs above average.

'I love the way we're running the bases,' Astros manager Joe Espada said. 'That's one highlight for our season. I'm very proud of the guys. We are really running the bases aggressively. We're stealing bases, (going) first to third, scoring on miscues. We're doing it on the bases.'

--Field Level Media