SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It took more than four hours and San Diego finally returned to the win column — and the Padres desperately needed this one to stay right in the playoff race.
Fernando Tatis Jr. matched his career high with four hits, Jurickson Profar homered and San Diego snapped a five-game skid, holding off San Francisco 9-6 Wednesday night and ending the Giants' nine-game winning streak.
Manager Jayce Tingler pointed to how his players patiently focus during at-bats and found ways to add on important runs late in the game.
“Up and down the guys were loose, they were locked in,” Tingler said. “You look up and we’re back to four-hour games, but honestly that’s when we’re probably playing more winning baseball and kind of grinding long at-bats, all those things.”
Adam Frazier got four hits and Manny Machado doubled twice for the Padres, who trail St. Louis by one game for the second NL wild-card spot.
San Francisco had its lead in the NL West cut to 1 1/2 games by the Los Angeles Dodgers, with both teams already assured playoff spots. The majors-best Giants (95-51) held the club’s longest winning streak since a 10-game run in 2004.
The Giants hit four solo homers: pinch-hitter Thairo Estrada in the third, Kris Bryant in the sixth, then late lineup addition Steven Duggar and Brandon Belt each connected in the seventh.
“We kept fighting till the very end, that’s all you can ask for,” Belt said.
Duggar struck out against Emilio Pagán to end the eighth with two runners aboard and the Giants trailing 7-5.
Joe Musgrove (11-9) earned his third win in four starts and bounced back from a loss to the Dodgers his last time out, allowing three runs on five hits over six innings.
“Our offense gave me a lot of energy and a lot of confidence to go out there and do what we did,” Musgrove said.
Frazier doubled in a two-run first against Dominic Leone (3-4) — it was another Giants bullpen outing with the team still down two starters. Eric Hosmer hit a two-run single in the second as the Padres made it 5-1.
San Diego had been held to one run in each of the first two games of the series — outscored 15-2 — and gotten no more than one run in five of its previous seven games, losing six of those.
Evan Longoria hit an RBI double in the second for San Francisco. Estrada's first career pinch-hit homer marked a franchise-record 15th by San Francisco this season.
Before Wednesday's total, San Francisco had scored at least six runs in nine straight games — most in the club’s San Francisco history dating to 1958 and trailing only a stretch of 15 such games accomplished in 1929, which marks the longest run in baseball history since at least 1909.
“I honestly think the Padres put together really good at-bats all night. They just kind of beat us up. They had 16 hits and drove a lot of balls, got the bat head out,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “... They were just kind of relentless offensively all the way through the game.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: San Diego placed LHP Blake Snell on the 10-day injured list with a left adductor groin strain that forced the 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner out in the first inning of his Sunday start against the Dodgers. ... The Padres signed RHP Vince Velasquez, recently cut by Philadelphia, to a minor league contract with the plan of adding him to the active roster to make a start this weekend at St. Louis. The club also recalled RHP Shaun Anderson from Triple-A El Paso.
Giants: Mike Yastrzemski was a late scratch in CF because of a tender right elbow after being hit by a pitch Tuesday night. Duggar replaced him. ... LHP Alex Wood faced live hitting in a key step toward his return from a bout with COVID-19. Kapler was so encouraged with the 21-pitch outing he said Webb might be available for the Giants — — the role to be determined initially with the plan for him to start again eventually — as soon as Saturday night against the Braves. “Key step for sure,” said Wood, who threw a bullpen Monday. “Solid overall, it was a good step forward, see how I recover tomorrow and go from there.” He still feels some fatigue and experiences a cough and congestion after dealing with seven days being in bed with a fever. ... INF Donovan Solano (COVID-19 injured list) was one of the hitters facing Wood, who commanded all of his pitches according to Kapler. Solano could be activated in the next couple of days. ... RHP Johnny Cueto played catch for the first time as he works back from a strained pitching elbow and threw from out to 60 feet. ... OF Alex Dickerson (right hamstring strain) also hit against Wood and could still use some more time on rehab assignment, Kapler said.
UP NEXT
RHP Kevin Gausman (14-5, 2.65 ERA) starts Thursday afternoon's series finale for the Giants trying to win his third straight start and sixth consecutive decision dating to a July 30 loss to Houston.
RHP Pierce Johnson (3-3, 2.98) will open for the Padres on Thursday.
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