Call it a comeback! Padres rally late to flip the script on Twins

SAN DIEGO -- Everything went wrong for the Padres to begin Saturday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins.

Casey Mize walked off the mound with a trainer after just 2 2/3 innings with a right ankle sprain. The Twins raced out to a 5-1 lead after four innings, while the Padres had managed just one hit. Their opponent was mashing, their bullpen was about to be taxed, and their offense couldn’t do much of anything.

And yet, the Padres won anyway. Such is the way things are going for baseball’s hottest team.

Jake Cronenworth hit two key doubles to kick-start a late rally, Ty France delivered the go-ahead RBI single in the seventh to cap a four-run inning, and the Padres stormed back to stun the Twins, 7-5, in front of a raucous, sellout crowd at Petco Park.

The Padres have won 20 of their last 27 games dating back to July 24. They own the best record in baseball in that time.

“Credit to the guys in the dugout,” manager Craig Stammen said. “They kept that energy up. They kept believing. They kept clapping their hands. Let's score once. Figure out a way. Let's crawl our way back. And sure enough, a couple things went our way, and they were able to do it.”

Jackson Merrill’s solo home run in the second inning was the only run the Padres managed until the sixth against Twins starter Dean Kremer. Cronenworth led off the sixth with a double and Merrill drove him home with a two-out single to cut the deficit to 5-2.

Cronenworth got a four-run rally started in the seventh when he ripped a two-run double off reliever Andrew Morris to bring the Padres within a run. Manny Machado followed with a grounder to the left side and Twins shortstop Kaelen Culpepper threw to third to attempt to get the lead runner, Cronenworth. But third baseman Brooks Lee missed the catch, and Cronenworth scampered home with the tying run.

“I mean, the shortstop's playing pretty far over into the hole,” Cronenworth said, "It's a tough play to go your forehand and then fire back to third base. I didn't think he was going to throw back over to third.”

Two pitches later, France looped a single into short right field to bring home Machado with the go-ahead run.

“I feel like we believe that coming into every single game, we have an opportunity to win the game,” France said. “The amount of talent in this room and the players that we have in here, we all believe in each other. And yeah, it's that time of year where you go out there and you need to win baseball games, especially where we're at with the standings.”

Fernando Tatis Jr. added an RBI single in the eighth for insurance and Mason Miller slammed the door in the ninth with his 32nd save.

It was the Padres’ seventh comeback win of four or more runs this season, most in MLB. It was their 36th comeback win of the season overall, fourth-most behind only the Cubs (39), Diamondbacks (38) and Dodgers (38).

“I think it's a credit to those guys. The energy that they're bringing, the enthusiasm that they're bringing to every game,” Stammen said. “It’s allowing us to have games like this where even though we're down, we're coming back and scoring some runs.”

The Padres would not have been in position to come back if not for their bullpen. Mize got shelled for three homers in the first nine batters before departing with his injury. Kyle Hart entered and allowed an inherited runner to score and served up a run of his own in the fourth inning to put the Padres behind 5-1.

But Griffin Canning stopped the bleeding with 3 1/3 scoreless innings of long relief to buy the offense time. After he retired the side in order in the seventh to finish his night, the Padres staged their rally to pull ahead.

Adrian Morejon followed with a perfect eighth and Miller finished it with a 1-2-3 ninth, highlighted by Tatis’ sensational running catch in the right-field corner to rob Josh Bell of a double and prevent the potential tying run from coming to the plate.

All in all, the Padres bullpen held the Twins scoreless over the final 5 1/3 innings.

With it, the Padres secured the series win heading into Sunday’s finale.

“Credit to our bullpen, just what they've done all year and picking us up,” France said. “For us to string together that big inning, that's what we expect. Fortunately, we came out on top tonight.”