Padres win eighth straight game, complete sweep of Mariners

The Padres are in one of those stretches where they believe they are capable of anything.

They are scoring with two outs. Scoring in bunches. Scoring when they absolutely have to.

"Two-out hits are definitely huge momentum swings for our team and against their team," manager Craig Stammen said Thursday night after his team won again with the help of a big two-out moment. "And the more of those you get, the more it just feels like, oh, we can do this every single time. And it just builds momentum in that."

They did it a little differently on Thursday.

No comeback. No walk-off extra-base hit. Just another big inning, a little midgame drama and an eighth straight victory.

A night after they scored five runs in the ninth inning, another burst of runs put the Padres up early Thursday, and the back end of their bullpen held on late in a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

The win concluded a seven-game homestand and their fourth straight series victory, and it gave them their longest winning streak since 2023.

They won eight straight that September during a furious but futile finish that did nothing more than get them to 82-80 and two games out of a postseason berth.

They are 19 games into this season, meaning they have 143 remaining. But they have set an early tone of resilience and shown the ability to create big innings.

"It's beautiful to see the type of baseball we're playing," Fernando Tatis Jr. said. "It's very rewarding."

Wednesday night's victory was their third in a six-game span won with an extra-base hit on the final at-bat of the game.

The Padres led almost from the start on Thursday after taking a 4-0 lead in the second inning, their 10th inning with at least three runs during their winning streak. They had scored more than three total runs in three of their first 11 games.

Gavin Sheets' double and singles by Miguel Andujar and Luis Campusano made it 1-0. It appeared Jake Cronenworth's line drive back at pitcher Luis Castillo would be the second out of the second inning, but the bases were loaded when first baseman Josh Naylor could not handle Castillo's hurried and bounced throw.

That meant a hard groundout by Laureano was not the third out but instead an RBI, and it gave Tatis a chance to line a two-run single into center field.

Padres starting pitcher Walker Buehler extended his scoreless streak to 11 innings before allowing two runs in Thursday's sixth inning.

Six days after he shut out the Colorado Rockies for six innings, Buehler allowed five hits on Thursday. Two of those came in succession at the start of the fourth inning and three came in succession at the start of the sixth.

Buehler walked Brendan Donovan to start the game, but picked him off two batters later and did not allow another runner until Donovan singled to start the fourth. Cal Raleigh followed with a single before Buehler struck out Julio Rodriguez, got a line drive out by Josh Naylor and a groundout by Randy Arozarena.

A 1-2-3 fifth had him at 78 pitches heading into the sixth inning, which was his undoing.

After singles by Cole Young, Donovan and Raleigh brought in a run and prompted Stammen to bring in Rodriguez, Buehler walked to the dugout, where he stormed past the teammates patting him on the back and rear end and threw his glove against the dugout's far wall.

One of his runs scored after he departed, as the Mariners loaded the bases against Bradgley Rodriguez before Adrian Morejón got the final two outs of the sixth and retired the Mariners in order in the seventh.

Jason Adam survived a hit batter and a dribbled infield single in a scoreless eighth inning, and Mason Miller struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth to run his scoreless streak to 30⅔ innings while locking down his sixth save of the season.

That completed a 7-0 homestand that soothed any fears Petco Park would no longer be the Padres' safe place after they went 2-4 at their home ballpark to start the season.

"We're kind of settled into the season a little bit," Stammen said. "I think we were always going to find a way to play better at home. We've done that in years past. We have such a great home field advantage here with the fans and just feeling comfortable in Petco Park and playing here."

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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 8:33 PM.