Rout of Brewers puts Padres in three-way tie for final two NL Wild Card spots

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres turned in one of their most complete performances of the season, demolishing the first-place Brewers, 11-2, on Tuesday night. They mashed. They pitched. They celebrated a second straight series victory over a first-place team.

And from there, their night got even better.

The Diamondbacks lost to the Rockies shortly thereafter. The Phillies had already lost in St. Louis.

Just like that, the Padres have moved into a three-way tie with those two teams for the final two Wild Card spots in the National League. With 41 games to play, it’s a dead heat.

“All we can do is play our game and control our destiny,” said Padres manager Craig Stammen. “Which is the stock answer. But it’s the truth, too. I like the way that we’re playing, and I think if we keep playing like this, our chances are good.”

Here are some takeaways from Petco Park:

This Padres’ offense is suddenly incredibly scary

This is what they always envisioned. When the Padres scuffled through the first couple months of their season offensively, they insisted their bats would come to life. There was simply too much talent for this team -- especially this collection of star hitters -- not to hit.

They were right. The Padres’ stars are hitting. Their role players are hitting. Their recent acquisitions are hitting.

Everyone is hitting.

Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Rengifo and Luis Campusano all went deep on Tuesday night. Manny Machado had three hits. Newly acquired left fielder Austin Hays had two.

The San Diego offense suddenly feels like an utterly complete unit. It’s a lineup with length and a bench with options. And a chore for any opposing pitcher to navigate.

“No special secret,” said Tatis, whose homer moved him into sole possession of second place on the Padres’ all-time home-run leaderboard. “We know what talent in here we are. We have cleaned it up as a team, as an offense. … Everything is coming together at the right time. We better keep it that way.”

Rengifo revenge game

The Brewers do almost everything right. They’ve earned the benefit of the doubt. They finished with the best record in the Majors last season, and they’ve got the best record in the Majors again this season.

But … they may have whiffed on Rengifo.

Two months ago, Milwaukee designated Rengifo for assignment. He was released the following week. The Padres were more than happy to scoop him up, and Rengifo started mashing the moment he arrived.

“He came along right at the right time,” Stammen said. “We just needed that little spark and that little bit of energy. And then, he had a hot bat, too.”

In 24 games with San Diego, Rengifo is now hitting .316 with an .869 OPS. His biggest swing yet came Tuesday night.

Rengifo launched an opposite-field grand slam against his former club, giving the Padres a 5-0 lead in the second inning. San Diego cruised from there.

“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” Rengifo said. “We know what we have to do: win games.”

It was the first grand slam of Rengifo’s career, and he insisted it didn’t mean anything extra because it came against Milwaukee. That’s especially true, he says, because after he was released, he found a perfect fit. Instantly.

“It’s part of baseball,” Rengifo said. “Things in Milwaukee didn’t go well at the beginning of the season. But it’s not how you start. It’s about how you finish.”

Beating the best

A popular critique of the Padres’ direction at the Trade Deadline was that, yes, they’d gotten red hot and established themselves as contenders in late July. But who had they actually beaten?

Well, this homestand has done plenty to silence that criticism.

The Padres won a series against the equally red-hot Astros over the weekend. They’ve now also taken a series against the first-place Brewers, who own the Majors’ best record. (And they’ve done so emphatically.)

The completeness of the Padres’ recent victories stands out. They poured it on early, and Walker Buehler was in control from the start. He worked six innings of one-run ball, preserving the San Diego bullpen. The offense tacked on, further preserving that bullpen.

This Padres surge feels like the real thing.

“We kept a good process, good positive attitude, stayed optimistic and relied on our hard work,” Stammen said. “That’s led us to this point where we’ve just kept at it and we’ve finally hit a good stretch where we’ve been playing really well.”