The Padres continued to find ways to win at a point in the season when they almost have to do so.
On Saturday, Jake Cronenworth drove in Xander Bogaerts with a walk-off single in the ninth inning after the Padres had lost a two-run lead in the eighth.
The 6-5 victory over the Giants was the Padres’ second walk-off victory in five days and the fourth time in their past seven victories they have scored the winning run in the seventh inning or later.
Importantly, they remained a game behind the Phillies, who hold the final National League playoff spot.
“I think we’re all realistic about where we are right now and where we want to go and be,” Bogaerts said. “It’s not a point where we have 140 games left. We’re somewhere around the 50-game mark left, right? So where we’re at, every game is important.”
A guy playing in the major leagues for the first time in three years and out in the lineup a half-hour before first pitch made it difficult on the Padres.
And they needed the late heroics because they were bit by their biggest weakness and let down by their biggest strength.
Osleivis Basabe, inserted in the lineup as the Giants’ No. 9 hitter shortly before the game when Luis Arraez was scratched due to what the team said was “cramping,” drove in four runs.
Basabe, who last played in the majors for the Rays in 2023 and was called up Wednesday to replace the injured Casey Schmitt, tied the game twice. His two-run home run off Walker Buehler got the Giants to 2-2 in the third inning, and his bases-loaded double with two outs in the eighth inning off Mason Miller tied the game 5-5.
Miller had entered the game after Jeremiah Estrada loaded the bases on two singles and a walk and got the first out of the inning.
A strikeout of pinch-hitter Grant McCray got Miller one out from completing the first portion of a big lift. But Basabe drilled a 103 mph fastball left up and over the plate on a line to left field to bring in two runs. It was just the third extra-base hit Miller has allowed since joining the Padres a year ago.
After Miller’s first blown save in 29 chances this season, he suffered a cut on the middle finger of his throwing hand when throwing a cooler between innings.
“I don’t like giving up runs,” Miller said. “I like it even less when they’re somebody else’s. I take pride in being able to come in and try to pick my teammates up, and I wasn’t able to do that today. They picked me up, fortunately.”
He ended up getting his fourth win when he got through the ninth and watched the Padres take their third-and-final lead.
“If anything, it fires the guys up even more,” Cronenworth said. “Mason goes back out there and has an awesome inning, keeps us in the game. Obviously, he wouldn’t have liked to give up those runs, but he goes back out there and does his job. That’s all we can ask for.”
Bogaerts began the bottom of the ninth with a double and immediately got to third on Freddy Fermin’s sacrifice bunt before pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets dribbled out to third base, forcing Bogaerts to freeze.
The Giants then put Fernando Tatis Jr. aboard with an intentional walk before Cronenworth lined the seventh pitch he saw from Dylan Smith into center field.
“Just full battle mode in that spot,” Cronenworth said.
And while it was the bullpen that faltered near the end, left-handers Wandy Peralta and Adrian Morejón preserved their chance in the middle of the game.
Both stranded runners they inherited in scoring position — Peralta after replacing Buehler with two outs and two on in the fifth inning and Morejón after replacing Peralta with a runner on third and two outs in the sixth.
The Padres had struck early for their first lead.
Giants starter Tyler Mahle struck out Tatis and Cronenworth to start the bottom of the first, but a four-pitch walk to Manny Machado was the beginning of a rally for the Padres.
Ty France followed with a single on the ground through the left side on the seventh pitch he saw. And Jackson Merrill drove in both runners with a double to the gap in right field.
Mahle went on to hit Luis Rengifo before his 31st pitch got Bogaerts on a groundout.
Buehler, who for the first time in four starts did not allow multiple runs in the second inning, faced nine batters and allowed three runs in the third inning Saturday.
It was an abundance of walks that largely did him in when he suffered the big innings in his previous three outings. He walked just one batter in the third, but it came after Basabe’s two-run homer tied the game and a hard single and two soft singles loaded the bases.
The Padres flipped the lead back their way in the fourth when Rengifo drew a leadoff walk and, with one out, Fermin turned on a first-pitch fastball and sent it on a lofting line to the seats beyond left field.
Buehler got in quick trouble in the fifth, yielding a leadoff single to Bryce Eldridge and walking Heliot Ramos with one out.
Peralta came in and ended the inning on two pitches, retiring Rafael Devers on a lineout to left field and Willy Adames on a grounder to shortstop.
After Daniel Susac’s double to start the sixth, Peralta helped himself partway out of trouble by getting a groundout and a strikeout before turning the ball over to Morejón, who ended the inning by retiring Basabe on a grounder to shortstop.
Bogaerts lined a two-out single to right field in the bottom of the sixth to end Mahle’s night. Bogaerts got to second on a balk by reliever Keaton Winn and scored on Fermin’s single.
“We just compete,” Fermin said. “Winning is winning in the big show.”