There was a big blast in the first, but down the stretch the San Diego Padres relied on excellent execution to even the series with the Seattle Mariners 7-6 on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park.

Ramón Laureano hit a grand slam as part of a five-run first inning for the early Padres (75-58) lead, but the Mariners (71-62) would come back with six runs in the fifth. Then San Diego got the decisive run on a safety squeeze bunt by Freddy Fermin as part of a two-run sixth.

“I love the fact… nobody hung their head. ‘Lets go, lets figure it out,'” said manager Mike Shildt. “Winners find solutions, very gutsy (and) very gritty, and it’s on display who you are when you’re not at your most comfortable.” 

Robert Suarez faced down Randy Arozarena, Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez — the trio responsible for 100 of Seattle’s third in the Majors 190 home runs — for his 35th save, getting all three to fly out. Adrian Morejon earned his 10th win by striking out everyone he faced in the sixth.

With the win the Padres kept pace with the Los Angeles Dodgers, remaining a game back in the NL West chase with LA’s 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. The Brown and Gold picked up a game on Chicago and are 1.5 games back of the top NL Wild Card with the Cubs taking a 5-2 loss at San Francisco.

Gavin Sheets and Laureano hit back-to-back doubles to start the sixth inning, Jake Cronenworth followed up with an RBI single and Fermin laid down his third sacrifice with San Diego to go back in front and chase reliever Caleb Ferguson. 

The Mariners had hit a pair of three-run home runs in the fifth inning, with Arozarena tagging a Dylan Cease sinker into the second deck in left field, then a walk to Raleigh ended the starter’s night. Jason Adam allowed a hit and then Eugenio Suárez reached to hook a low and outside slider out to left field.

From there the relievers commanded the rest of the way led by Morejon, and then Mason Miller got a pair of strikeouts, but allowed a walk and a single before getting out of the seventh. Jeremiah Estrada allowed a lead off hit but retired the next three with a strikeout in a bounce-back eighth.

Cease lasted 4 â…“ innings, allowing four hits and four runs with five strikeouts and three walks, and did not make it through the fifth for the third time in his last 10 starts.

“I really feel confident when he gets to that fourth and fifth, and me explaining that I always have a contingency isn’t a lack of confidence, it’s just knowing that you’ve got to be ready — don’t get caught,” Shildt said. “I had full confidence in Dylan being able go and tonight, I was looking at a six, seven inning performance. But I will say this, that’s a good offense, so it’s not just breezing through that lineup… you saw a really good baseball game tonight, it looked like a playoff game.”

The early damage came when behind in the count 1-2, Laureano tagged a middle-high four-seamer to left center field 391 feet for his second career grand slam. The Brown and Gold hadn’t had the biggest fly hit since Xander Bogaerts clubbed one on July 20 at Washington.

“I was just trying to stay on it early and stay on top of the baseball, and whatever happens happens,” Laureano said.

It was the sixth home run over the past three games for San Diego, matching their second-most across a trio of contests for the season. 

The Padres have hit 24 home runs in the 24 games since acquiring Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn at the trade deadline, with Laureano hitting a team-most five long balls and O’Hearn sending three out of the yard.

“I’m pleased because your culture can get tested when you have change, and at the time we have five and six with Cortes being added, you have over 20% change in your roster, and you don’t miss the beat and those guys acclimate and accelerate… For me it’s a really positive thing about how we’re doing here for sustained winning culture,” Shildt said after praising the clubhouse, staff and organization for helping the trade deadline acquisitions join the team while also taking care of their families.

San Diego got the jump on Seattle starter Luis Castillo when Fernando Tatis Jr. led off with a double, and O’Hearn drew a two-out walk. Bogaerts turned on an inside sinker and dumped it over third baseman Suárez for his sixth RBI in six games, then Gavin Sheets walked to load the bases.

In the final game of the series the Padres will start Yu Darvish (3-3, 5.39 ERA) against Seattle’s Bryan Woo (11-7, 2.94 ERA), with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m. at T-Mobile Park.

This story was updated at 10:26 p.m.