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Major League Baseball
San Diego 4, Atlanta 3
When: 10:10 PM ET, Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Where: Petco Park, San Diego, California
Temperature: 67°
Umpires: Home - Lance Barksdale, 1B - Angel Hernandez, 2B - Will Little, 3B - Ted Barrett
Attendance: 22198

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres, who know something about tough losses, handed a killer to the Atlanta Braves Tuesday night at Petco Park.

Down 3-2 entering the bottom of the ninth, the Padres tied the score on a solo home run by Derek Norris then won in four hitters later on a walk-off single by Wil Myers.

"That's definitely a good way to win," said Padres manager Andy Green of the 4-3 victory that lifted the Padres to a 5-2 record on a homestand that ends Wednesday afternoon with a third straight meeting between the last-place teams in the National League East and West.

The loss was the sixth straight for the Braves.

The loss was doubly infuriating for Atlanta, which felt it had widened its lead to 4-2 in the top of the eighth when Freddie Freeman hit a ball that caromed back onto the field after hitting the front edge of the top of the wall in left center.

After Freeman pulled into third with a triple, Braves interim manager Brian Snitker appealed that the ball hit a fan's glove. It took the replay crew 55 seconds to rule Freeman's drive did not hit a fan.

"On our replay, it looked like a home run," said Freeman. "I'm surprised they took that quick to look at that and not give it any more shot. Clearly on our replay, it looks like the fan's glove went down. Nothing surprises me with replay anymore."

"I haven't seen the replay," said Snitker. "On the big board, in here, it's like the ball hit the guy's glove. I couldn't tell that out there. I haven't seen it from the views we're seeing in there. If it did hit the fan's glove, then that's unacceptable. If they overturn that homer and that ball hit that glove, if we can see it right there, that's unacceptable."

Even without Freeman's homer, the Padres trailed 3-2 going into the bottom of the ninth with Braves right-handed closer Arodys Vizcaino seeking to claim a seventh save in eight tries.

That hope was quickly smashed. Norris drove the right-handed reliever's second pitch 409 feet into the Padres bullpen to tie the game.

Alexei Ramirez followed the homer with a single that extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Ramirez stole second and took third on a wild pitch. After Travis Jankowski walked and took second on indifference, Jon Jay lined out -- bringing up Myers.

Instead of walking Myers to load the bases for a possible double play, Vizcaino pitched to the Padres first baseman, who lined a changed up down the line in left for the game-winning hit, scoring Ramirez.

"It was out over the plate," said Myers.

"Norris tied it on a huge swing," said Green. "Then we had four good at-bats to win it."

Vizcaino (1-1) suffered the loss and his second blown save. Reliever Matt Thornton (1-0) won for the Padres with a scoreless inning.

Nick Markakis drove in two runs and possibly saved two more with a running catch in right field to help the Braves take the 3-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth.

Markakis doubled home a run in the first and drove in the Braves' third run with a sacrifice fly in Atlanta's two-run third. But it was his bases-loaded, one-out catch at the wall at the right-field wall in the fifth that allowed the Braves to hold onto the lead.

Padres starter Colin Rea gave up all three Atlanta runs on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts in seven innings.

"Rea got strong as the game went on," said Green. "His only mistakes were a couple breaking balls."

Atlanta right-handed starter Aaron Blair allowed two runs on six hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings.

The Braves scored twice in the top of the third and dodged several Padres challenges to hold onto a 3-2 lead through seven innings.

Each team scored in the first.

Rea retired the first two Braves he faced before issuing a walk to Freeman, who scored from first on Markakis' double off the wall in right.

The Padres, who have scored 16 first-inning runs in the first seven games of June after scoring only 14 in the season's first 53 games, tied it in the bottom of the inning. After Jay struck out, Myers drew a walk and immediately stole second ahead of Matt Kemp's RBI single.

The Padres mounted a two-out rally of their own in the bottom of the second starting with a Rea single. Blair hit Jay with a pitch to put runners on first and second.

Myers followed with a single to left that reached the glove of Braves left fielder Mallex Smith before Rea reached third. But Padres third base coach Glenn Hoffman waved Rea home. Smith, a former Padres prospect, threw a perfect strike to the plate and Rea was out by 10 feet.

"That was definitely on the aggressive said," said Green. "When we error, we error on the aggressive side."

The Braves broke the 1-1 tie in an unusual third.

Smith opened the inning with a single and stole second. Ender Inciarte followed with a grounder back to Rea, who trapped Smith off second. But as Smith retreated to the bag, Inciarte raced into second, the two Braves awkwardly colliding at the bag with Smith being called out.

Green asked crew chief Ted Barrett if Inciarte might have passed Smith on the bases in the confusion before Smith was tagged off the bag.

"They got the call right," Green admitted.

Chris d'Arnaud drove home Inciarte with a single, advanced to third on a single by Freeman and scored on Markakis' sacrifice fly to left to make it 3-1.

The Padres loaded the bases against Blair with one out in the fifth. Jay singled, moved to second on a one-out single by Kemp and reached third when Blair walked Yangervis Solarte to load the bases.

Former Padre Casey Kelly replaced Blair to face Melvin Upton Jr. The Padres' left fielder hit a long drive to right that for a brief instant looked like it had grand slam legs. But Markakis caught the ball just before making contact with the wall, Jay easily scoring on the sacrifice fly. With runners at the corners, Kelly struck out Brett Wallace to end the threat.

NOTES: Padres RHP Jon Edwards' has been shut down following an MRI on his elbow. "It will be a couple of days before we know more and determine the next steps," said Padres manager Andy Green. ... Over the last 19 games, the Braves are hitting .158 with runners in scoring position after going 1-for-4 on Tuesday. ... The top three hitters in the Padres batting order -- Jon Jay, Wil Myers and Matt Kemp -- are batting .429 with nine doubles, five homers, 25 RBIs and 30 runs scored for the first seven games in June.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Atlanta   San Diego
Aaron Blair Player Colin Rea
No Decision W/L No Decision
4.1 IP 7.0
4 Strikeouts 5
6 Hits 6
4.15 ERA 3.86
Hitting
Atlanta   San Diego
Freddie Freeman Player Matt Kemp
2 Hits 2
0 RBI 1
0 HR 0
4 TB 2
.667 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Atlanta 7 0 10 .226 10 5 3 2 1 0
San Diego 9 1 12 .281 9 6 4 4 2 0