Down 3-2 to the lowly Atlanta Braves, the Padres offense came to life in the bottom of the 9th inning.
Derek Norris started the comeback by smashing a solo home run on the second pitch he saw from Atlanta reliever Luis Vizcaino.
Despite hitting his 7th long ball of the year, the catcher still has a paltry .208 batting average.
The Padres need Norris to break out of his slump – both to help the lineup produce consistently and also potentially raise his trade value – and he picked a perfect time to provide a clutch hit.
Norris appeared to rattle Vizcaino, who got a little bit wild after blowing the save.
Four batters later, with Alexei Ramirez representing the winning run on 3rd base, Wil Myers cranked a one-out single down the left field line and ended the game with a RBI single to give San Diego the improbable 4-3 victory.
Myers raised his batting average to .290 by going 2-for-4 Tuesday and grinned as Matt Kemp tackled him around second base moments after his game-winning hit.
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Chargers defensive coordinator John Pagano probably would have given Kemp a good grade on his wrap-up attempt during the impromptu celebration.
It’s the 12th straight time the Padres have beaten the Braves at Petco Park.
Atlanta’s last victory in San Diego was back in August of 2012.
San Diego reliever Matt Thornton earned his first victory of the season after a scoreless inning of work.
Padres starter Colin Rea went seven innings and limited the Braves to just three earned runs on six hits.
Potential All-Star Ryan Buchter also pitched a scoreless inning against his former team.
San Diego gets yet another attempt to complete its first three-game series sweep of the season in a Wednesday matinee.
Drew Pomeranz makes the start against Atlanta’s Julio Teheran. First pitch is slated for 12:40 p.m.
