SAN DIEGO -- All’s well that ends well for the Astros.

On a night Josh Hader was booed loudly in his return to Petco Park -- and subsequently threw a wild pitch to allow the tying run to score in the eighth inning -- and manager Joe Espada and second baseman Jose Altuve were ejected an inning later, the Astros got an RBI single in the 10th from Kyle Tucker and held on for a 4-3 victory over the Padres on Tuesday night.

"It kind of feels like a playoff game. It's a playoff atmosphere out there,” Espada said. “That’s a really good team. These guys, they recognize that. Every game matters, every pitch matters, every play matters.

“We’re grinding. We’re in a long stretch here of games, and we're trying to win as many as we can. And that’s the sign of a really good team, when we pull wins like that."

Even the final out was full of drama. Astros reliever Héctor Neris retired Manny Machado with the bases loaded to end the game. The ground ball went to Grae Kessinger, who took over for Altuve. He flipped to Jeremy Peña to end the game.

“It’s always good to contribute and help the team win,” Kessinger said. "Every day, just come to win. What a fun group this is. Winning is all that matters.”

The Astros (82-69) moved five games ahead of the second-place Mariners in the American League West with 11 games remaining.

“I’m proud of those guys in there,” Espada said. “That’s resiliency, that’s a big win against a really good team. A lot of stuff happened in that game, and they stayed with it, got big outs and big hits and big defense at the end by Kessinger. That’s what good teams do.”

Espada turned to Hader in the eighth inning to get a four-out save, but Houston’s closer was called for a pitch timer violation before he threw a pitch. After a long delay while the umpires had a rules check, the violation was reversed and determined to be a disengagement. Then Hader’s first pitch went to the backstop, allowing Fernando Tatis Jr. to score the tying run.

“I’m coming out of the bullpen getting ready to face a guy and then I got to sit for 10 minutes,” Hader said. “At the end of the day, I yanked a slider down. It’s not like I executed the pitch. That probably would have happened either way, maybe. Who knows?”

Hader, who spent the previous 1 1/2 seasons with the Padres before signing a five-year, $95 million deal with Houston in the offseason, retired all four batters he faced and wound up getting the win. The loud boos from a sellout crowd didn’t faze him.

“I love this ballpark,” he said. “I love pitching here. Obviously, I love the boos. Living rent-free is always a good time.”

• Altuve tossed after taking off his shoe

Things got even weirder in the ninth when Altuve came to bat. With a runner at second base and two outs, Altuve hit a grounder to third and was thrown out, but he contested that the ball hit off his left foot and should have been a foul ball. Espada came out to argue, Altuve ripped off his shoe and sock to show plate umpire Brennan Miller the mark the ball supposedly left on his foot.

Both Altuve and Espada were ejected.

The Astros took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Jon Singleton and an RBI groundout by Peña off Padres starter Michael King. Astros starter Hunter Brown, meanwhile, had retired 11 in a row before Tatis led off the sixth inning with a single and stole second on a close play the Astros challenged and lost.

One out later, Brown fell behind, 3-0, in the count against Machado. The right-hander then worked the count full on a pair of borderline pitches that Machado thought were balls. So much so, Machado started walking to first base both times, believing he had walked. Machado fouled the next pitch off and then ripped a Statcast-projected 405-foot homer to left field to tie the game.

“That was a great win,” Brown said. “It took the whole team tonight. A lot of people stepped up and did some really good things. I was most impressed with Grae Kessinger at the end there. That was a game-saving play. I’m happy for him, and that was just really cool to watch.”