Padres gain game in WC race on Cronenworth's walk-off

SAN DIEGO -- They stuck it out through a rare San Diego downpour Friday night -- a 45-minute pregame rain delay so unusual that earlier in the week Padres manager Bob Melvin wondered aloud whether Petco Park even had a tarp.

The game proved well worth the wait. A National League West showdown with all sorts of playoff implications lived up to its billing. Jake Cronenworth’s walk-off single in the 10th inning capped a dramatic 5-4 Padres victory over the Dodgers, their 11th walk-off win of the year.

“It was crazy, especially playing here in the first couple innings with the rain, the crowd going crazy,” Cronenworth said. “It was awesome. It’s a great feeling, especially with the home crowd behind you. You win those games that are back-and-forth and close -- hopefully it’s a good sign for when we’re hopefully in the place we want to be.”

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The “place they want to be” is the postseason. And the Padres took a step closer to that goal on Friday night. With the win, they moved four games ahead of Milwaukee for the final place in the NL playoffs -- and past Philadelphia by half a game into the second Wild Card spot.

“It just feels well-deserved,” Padres center fielder Trent Grisham said of the roller-coaster victory. “All around, we had a lot of guys helping out. A lot of different parts of the game -- big at-bats, big jams we got out of. It felt good.”

Grisham's three-run homer off Dustin May in the bottom of the second inning put the Padres on top. But that lead was short-lived. The Dodgers answered immediately with two in the third, and former Padre Trayce Thompson put L.A. on top with a solo homer in the fourth.

Back-and-forth they went. The Padres tied things up in the fifth. Then, for five innings, the two bullpens dueled -- and the Dodgers flinched first. Right-hander Heath Hembree grooved a fastball to Cronenworth, who shot it into right field, plating Juan Soto as the winning run.

“It gives us confidence in these types of games, where if we’re in them late, we’ve got a good chance to win ’em,” said Padres manager Bob Melvin. “At this point, it’s not a surprise when we win a close game at home.”

Still, for all of the Padres’ walk-off victories this season, this was particularly gratifying. On a night when the Brewers played the 80-loss Reds and the Padres played the 94-win Dodgers, San Diego still managed to pick up a game in the standings.

On top of that, the Padres got significant contributions from a few players who should be crucial to the team’s playoff fate. Offensively, Cronenworth and Grisham fit the bill. On the mound? How about Josh Hader and Adrian Morejon?

Hader, who struggled mightily upon his arrival in San Diego, has now been solid in four straight appearances. On Friday night, he took it up a notch. Hader pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out two Dodgers.

“This might’ve been the best stuff that we’ve seen him have this year,” Melvin said.

“He looks great,” said Grisham, Hader’s former teammate in Milwaukee. “Looks like the Hader I’m used to seeing and playing behind. Lots of heaters in the zone and just going after guys, one after another.”

Hader’s dominant top of the ninth gave the Padres their first chance to walk it off, but they came up empty in the bottom of the frame. That’s when Melvin had a decision to make. In Morejon’s most recent outing on Sunday, he surrendered four runs without recording an out at Dodger Stadium. Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman were due up.

But Melvin is nothing if not unflinchingly confident in his guys. He gave Morejon the ball, and Morejon rewarded that faith by retiring that trio of All-Stars in order.

“He had a tough assignment there with a man on second and the top of the order up,” Melvin said. “That’s not easy to do. There were a lot of big contributions over the course of this game -- I don’t think any bigger than his.”

Ultimately, it’ll take contributions from all across the roster if the Padres want to reverse recent trends against their NL West rivals. They’ve won only four of 14 against the Dodgers this season, but they still play five more times this month. And if the Padres can win a few of those, it’d go a long way toward ensuring a trip to the postseason -- and perhaps an October rematch.