SAN FRANCISCO — The Padres’ first hit of real consequence on Tuesday tied the game in the ninth inning.
Their second served as the game-winner in the 10th.
“I feel like whenever the at-bats matter the most,” Jake Cronenworth said, “they’ve been the best.”
It was Cronenworth who ripped a single through the right side off Spencer Bivens with two outs in the 10th inning to score automatic runner Jackson Merrill with what stood as the deciding run.
Jeremiah Estrada worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th to preserve the 3-2 victory.
The Padres got the opportunity to pull out their third straight victory because Manny Machado hit a bases-loaded single with two outs in the ninth inning off Giants closer Camilo Doval to tie the game 2-2.
“I’ve faced him quite a bit, so I know he’s a two-pitch guy,” said Machado, who lofted a 1-1 slider below the zone softly onto the grass in left field. “So I’m trying to get one up in the air. I knew (the speedy Fernando Tatis Jr.) was at second base. So I didn’t really have to try to slug or try to hit the ball hard somewhere, just kind of get it into the outfield, get a little base hit and be short with it. So he hung a low slider just enough for me to get it up in the air.”
A second straight extra-innings victory over the Giants — coming a night after a 1-0 decision in 10 innings — was a rare kind of win but also the kind of win that is becoming sort of regular for the Padres.
They are the first team since the 2001 Diamondbacks to win consecutive road games despite being shut out through eight innings in both.
Tuesday was the Padres’ first victory this season when trailing after eight innings.
But it was their 17th comeback victory, tied for second most in the major leagues and their ninth comeback from two or more runs, tied for third most in the majors.
The Padres have won seven of their past nine games, and five of those victories have required them to come back from a deficit of two or more runs.
“It just reinforces who we are,” manager Mike Shildt said. “I mean, we talk about this fairly frequently. It is a lot of wins like this, and it just becomes even more ingrained. Winners find solutions. You’ve just got to find a way, man.”
All of the heroics in the final two innings followed rookie Ryan Bergert acquitting himself nicely in his first major league start and Sean Reynolds working a career-high three innings without allowing a run.
After the Padres tied the game, Yuki Matsui took just five pitches to get through a scoreless ninth.
This, on a night when the Padres’ highest-leverage relievers were unavailable due to their recent workload.
“Those guys were fantastic,” Shildt said. “We talk about bullpens, especially when you’re playing a lot of games and close games and extra-inning games, you’re going to have guys in different spots. And good bullpens have guys that can pitch in different spots and you don’t miss much.”
Bergert went five innings, mostly spreading out six hits and two walks besides paying for Heliot Ramos’ two-run homer in the third inning.
Reynolds then kept the Padres close to set up the ninth-inning drama.
Brandon Lockridge reached on an infield single with one out in the ninth, and two-out walks by Tatis and Luis Arraez loaded the bases.
Machado, who was already 3-for-3 with a walk, then dropped a single into shallow left field to easily bring in Lockridge and Tatis.
“I think when he hit it,” Cronenworth said, “everybody knew that we were gonna win that game.”
It was all just enough for an offense mired in a malaise that began in mid-May.
For the fourth time in five games and 11th time in their past 16 games, an opposing starting pitcher turned in a quality start against the Padres.
This time it was Landen Roupp, who followed Logan Webb’s eight scoreless innings against the Padres on Monday with 6⅓ scoreless innings.
The Padres beat both pitchers at the end of April. That was back when they were averaging more than the 2.9 runs a game they have put up over their past 17 games.
Fortunately for them, the Giants are averaging two runs over their past 16 games.
The Padres were not entirely impotent Tuesday. They had baserunners in seven of the first eight innings. But they were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position to that point, failing to score after having men at first and second with one out in the fourth and first and second with no outs in both the seventh and eighth.
They waited until there were two outs to get a runner in scoring position in the ninth. Then they came through.
“Huge,” Machado said. “I mean, we battled. We battled. Obviously yesterday was a pitching duel. Webb was dealing. You know, to come in in extra innings and get that victory. … Our defense. Our pitching staff. Our bullpen coming in and holding lights out. We have Reynolds coming in today. That was huge. That’s a big pickup. Gives us an opportunity to stay in the game. We were down the whole game, and to battle how we did, I mean, every inning, We had some really good at-bats. We made them work for it, and it just paid off today for us.”
