Jorge Alfaro handed mamas a big gift for Mother’s Day – and plenty of other fans too – as he smacked a walk-off homer at Petco Park Sunday to give the Padres a 3-2 victory.
With the win over the Miami Marlins, the Padres, who had been held scoreless to that point, took three of the four games in the weekend series.
The Padre catcher hit the homer against his former team with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. After Austin Nola struck out, Jurickson Profar had singled, but was thrown out as Trent Grisham reached on a fielder’s choice.
CJ Abrams kept the inning alive with a single, and Alfaro, who didn’t play Sunday until he was called on as a pinch hitter, sent his blast to centerfield off reliever Cole Sulser’s first pitch to him.
Manager Bob Melvin called it “good to be able to get a game like that, fight through a little adversity and get some good swings at the end.”
Joe Musgrove started for the Padres and went seven innings, giving up two runs and striking out eight.
The Friars (19-10), though, could only keep pace with the Los Angeles Dodgers. After briefly tying the Dodgers atop the National League West Friday, they fell 1.5 games behind Saturday. Their only loss to the Marlins in the series, 8-0, coincided with their rival’s sweep of a doubleheader in Chicago.
Now the Padres welcome the Cubs (9-17) to town. They will send MacKenzie Gore, Mike Clevinger and Nick Martinez to the mound against Chicago, who lost again to the Dodgers on Sunday.
After an off-day Thursday, the Padres start a nine-game road trip, traveling to Atlanta, Philadelphia and San Francisco.