Castellano's HR, Machado's walk-off lift Padres to 10-inning comeback victory

SAN DIEGO -- Scoreless and down to their final strike, the Padres pulled off a dramatic and improbable comeback on Sunday afternoon, earning a weekend split against the Cardinals at Petco Park.

Nick Castellanos hit a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning before Manny Machado’s sacrifice fly won it in the 10th.

Here’s some analysis from the Padres’ 3-2 victory -- their fourth walk-off win of the season:

Clutch Castellanos

It’s taken some time, but Castellanos finally seems to be adapting to his new role in San Diego. A longtime everyday player, Castellanos has gotten only sporadic usage as a bench player with the Padres. But he’s starting to thrive in that role.

On Sunday, he delivered his biggest swing -- and his toughest at-bat yet.

Castellanos came to the plate in the ninth as the potential final out, with the Padres trailing 2-0. He fell behind in the count, 0-2. Then, the battle began.

Castellanos fouled off three pitches, and he worked the count full, before Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien left a belt-high sinker over the inner half. Castellanos turned on it and launched a game-tying two-run homer into the left-field seats, sending the game to extras.

“I really wasn’t looking for anything,” Castellanos said. “Just looking for the baseball, really, over the plate.”

Nonetheless, Castellanos said he changed his approach once he got to two strikes. He acknowledged swinging for the fences on the first two pitches of the at-bat.

“Look where that got me -- two strikes,” he quipped.

Castellanos broke his bat on one of those subsequent foul balls and returned to the dugout in search of a new one. Fernando Tatis Jr. offered his. Castellanos accepted.

Rather notably, of course, Tatis has yet to homer this season. But clearly, his bat still has a homer or two in it.

Sputtering offense finds a way

This weekend offered a pretty strong summary of the Padres’ offense this season: They combined to record only 14 hits across their four-game series against the Cardinals -- the fewest hits they’ve recorded in any four-game series in franchise history.

And they still won two of those games.

“Even though we’re not rolling, we’re fighting, and we’re finding ways,” said Castellanos.

The Padres rank in the bottom third of the league in just about every meaningful offensive category. They know their offense needs to be better.

“We’re not hitting,” Machado said. “It’s obvious. But we’re getting things done. … At the end of the day, it’s about winning ballgames, and we’re doing that.”

Indeed, through 40 games, the Padres are winning at a .600 clip. That’ll play. Plus, if you look closely enough, there might even be signs for optimism.

No one embodies the offensive struggles more than Tatis, who is still waiting on that first homer. He’s at least getting closer. In the third inning, he turned on a fastball, 105.4 mph off the bat, and sent it 395 feet to the left-center-field wall -- the closest he’s come to a home run this year. Tatis also worked a pair of crucial late walks, including one in the 10th to load the bases for Machado.

Jackson Merrill has begun to heat up as well, and he reached base four times on Sunday. The Padres know they need more from their biggest stars -- and, really, their entire offense. But they’re winning games, even while they’re struggling.

Buehler reliable in the rotation

Walker Buehler’s first couple starts with the Padres weren’t great. His velocity was low, and he was getting hit hard. But since then? Across his last six outings, Buehler has been a completely serviceable back-of-the-rotation starter.

And that’s what the Padres signed him to be. Of all the back-end options, Buehler looks like the one most capable of serving as the No. 5 starter when San Diego is healthy and firing in the top four spots.

He’s still prone to a mistake or two. That was the case on Sunday, when he retired the first 11 Cardinals hitters he faced before an Alec Burleson single. Buehler was mostly cruising. Then, he hung a 2-1 knuckle curve over the inside corner to Jordan Walker, missing his spot.

Walker launched a two-run homer off the third level of the Western Metal Building. But those were the only two runs Buehler would allow.

“Other than that, man, he was nails,” said manager Craig Stammen. “And we’ve kind of been seeing flashes of this from Walker over the last few starts. We’ve felt really confident with how he was trending.”