ATLANTA — The San Diego Padres sealed the series in Atlanta with a 5-3 win, outlasting the Braves in the rubber match.

Ending the road trip with a 2-4 record, the Padres did come out ahead of the season series, winning six of their seven meetings against the Braves, including a four game sweep back on Opening Weekend. 

From a season-wide perspective, the Padres (29-22) really needed this win as they dropped seven of their last eight. It’s too early to think about playoff standings but it’s hard to ignore where the Padres once stood, owning the best record in baseball (25-13) just two weeks ago. 

“We live in the moment,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “We’re not going to excuse the fact that four of the first five games didn’t go our way… We take care of our business… We’re going to win today.” 

Entering Sunday 3-for-53 with runners in scoring position, the Padres knew offensively they needed to improve that and other details in order to regain their footing in the standings. 

The Padres, amid their recent struggles, reverted to their early-season formula: lockdown bullpen work and explosive, well-timed hits.

“It’s one of those wins that makes you appreciate who this team is,” Shildt said when asked about his team’s performance. “I love this group, man. I just absolutely couldn’t be more blessed to be a part of this group.” 

The first of their two RISP opportunities came from Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado, who led the way during the first inning with a two-out double by Machado, followed by an RBI ground ball single by Merrill. 

Austin Riley singled on Cease’s first pitch in the second inning, and a batter later, Ozzie Albies sent a slider off the right field wall for an RBI double. 

Both starting pitchers had a squence were they found their groove on the mound. They kept the game tied until Dylan Cease produced a shaky fifth inning, where he allowed an RBI sac fly from Nick Allen and another run from a wild pitch on back-to-back pitches.

“Cease was good,” Shildt said. “The 31 pitch inning in the fifth got his count to a number. He could have gone back, but that long inning in the fifth just didn’t make as much sense.” 

Not long after, San Diego would tap the source of Gavin Sheets once more, connecting on a two-run HR to right center to even the score 3-3. Sheets, who was DFA’d by the White Sox before Spring Training, has now hit four HR’s over his last four games. 

“Sheets is a hitter. He has power, but he’s a hitter,” Shildt said about Sheet’s game tying HR during the sixth inning. “He just sweet stroked that ball, (it was a) tough pitch.

Shildt would turn to his bullpen for the first of four episodes at the start of the sixth, calling up Jeremiah Estrada. Estrada pitched against five batters, striking out two and walking his last in the following inning. 

Taking the ‘CronZone’ with him to Truist Park, Jake Cronenworth regained the lead for San Diego after taking Spencer Schwellenbach’s 92nd pitch, 382 feet to the right field stands.

Morejon would get called to relieve Estrada and took care of his half of the inning by ending with a 6-4-3 double-play. 

Machado added on some cushion during the eighth inning, sending home his fifth HR of the season on a 94 MPH four-seamer from Dylan Lee, who replaced Schwellenbach. He finished the series going 6-for-10 with six hits, two HRs and three RBIs. 

Jason Adam and Robert Suarez climbed the mound for the eighth and ninth inning, finishing off the dominant performance by the Padres’ bullpen, who pitched a shutout and allowed just a hit and a walk.   

Giving up a run a piece early on, both team’s starting pitchers provided solid outings.  

Cease tossed 88 pitches through five innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits, a walk and eight strikeouts. Schwellenbach matched his career high with 11 strikeouts in seven innings to go along with seven hits and four earned runs on 101 pitches. 

Adding onto Sunday’s game, it was announced that the Padres will send their ace pitcher Michael King to the IL with a scapula issue. King was supposed to pitch yesterday but was made a late scratch after waking up with some tightness in his right shoulder. 

Shildt said they view the injury as a day-to-day, but noted that they are still in the discovery phase. 

“It’s not an overly common situation, but it’s something that we do medically we have our hands on,” Shildt said. “We’ll get back to San Diego and we’ll evaluate over the next couple of days and see where it takes us.” 

Shildt added that he was encouraged that King didn’t feel more discomfort today and sees it as a ‘baby step’ forward. It’s expected for him to miss at least one game. 

The Padres will fly back to San Diego and continue their season journey with a three game series against the Miami Marlins. The projected starting pitchers will be right-hander Randy Vásquez (3-4, 3.49 ERA) for the Padres, and lefty Ryan Weathers (1-0, 1.80 ERA) for the Marlins.Â