Jose Iglesias did not get into the final game of the series between the San Diego Padres and Kansas City Royals until the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Padres would not have won the game without him.

Iglesias hit a ground ball to shortstop with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning with Luis Arraez on third base and Xander Bogaerts on second base. Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. fielded the ball, but his throw did not get to the plate in time to keep Arraez from scoring, giving San Diego a 3-2 walk-off win.

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In the top of the ninth inning, a relay throw on a ball to the outfield from Jackson Merrill, to Iglesias to Elias Diaz prevented Kansas City from scoring the go-ahead run and it ended the inning.

Iglesias entered the game in the bottom of the seventh inning and produced the most significant hit of the game to that point for the Padres. Iglesias pinch-hit for Jake Cronenworth, who was hitless in two plate appearances against Royals starter Seth Lugo.

Angel Zerpa came in for Lugo after he allowed a leadoff double to Merrill and got Manny Machado to fly out. Zerpa got Arraez to groundout to for the second out of the inning and Merrill advanced to third base. Zerpa then allowed back-to-back walks to Gavin Sheets and Bogaerts to load the bases for Iglesias.

Iglesias, a right-handed batter, was announced as a pinch-hitter and Kansas City responded by replacing its left-handed pitcher, Zerpa, with righty, Lucas Erceg. Iglesias came through with a two-strike single, which was just the third hit of the game for San Diego, to tie the game, 2-2.

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Padres starter Randy Vasquez had his best performance as an MLB starter and completed seven innings for the first time in his career. He made one mistake and that resulted in the only two runs he would allow in the contest.

Salvador Perez hit a 412-foot two-run home run to left-center field to give the Royals a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth. Vasquez bounced back and got the next two hitters to pop out and groundout to end the inning.

Vasquez needed just 89 pitches to get through seven innings and allowed the two runs on the Perez home run on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Jason Adam worked a scoreless eighth inning and Robert Suarez worked a scoreless ninth inning to set up the opportunity for Iglesias to come through with the game-winning plate appearance.

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Merrill returned from his stint on the 7-day Concussion IL and Padres Manager Mike Shildt took the opportunity to shake up the lineup. Merrill was penciled into the second spot and Arraez moved into the fourth spot. It appeared to be a positive change as Merrill and Arraez each recorded a hit and scored a run in the game.

San Diego opens a series with the Washington Nationals at Petco Park, Monday at 6:40 p.m.

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