SAN DIEGO _ It was a case of better late than never for the Milwaukee Brewers' offense on Wednesday night.
After being shut down almost all game by San Diego Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin and then reliever Brad Hand, the Brewers broke through for a pair of runs in the ninth inning against closer Brandon Maurer and notched a 3-1 victory at Petco Park.
Jett Bandy drove in the go-ahead run and Matt Garza registered his fourth consecutive quality start to highlight the game for the Brewers, who now find themselves atop the National League Central and five games above .500 for the first time since Sept. 20, 2014.
Milwaukee's bats finally awoke in the ninth.
Travis Shaw, playing for the first time since Sunday, doubled to left off San Diego closer Brandon Maurer with one out. Domingo Santana and Jett Bandy both followed with singles, with Bandy's bouncer up the middle snapping the 1-1 deadlock.
Keon Broxton followed with a third consecutive single to load the bases, then Santana came in to score on Orlando Arcia's groundout to make it 3-1.
Corey Knebel walked the leadoff batter in the ninth, then overwhelmed the Padres from there to earn his second save of the season.
As has been the case all season, the Brewers were swinging the bats early as they jumped out to a first-inning lead on Chacin and the Padres.
Eric Sogard, starting at second base for Jonathan Villar, drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a single by Hernan Perez.
After Jesus Aguilar struck out, Shaw muscled a broken-bat single to center to make it 1-0.
Chacin, who entered 4-3 with a 5.12 earned-run average, was virtually untouchable from that point on.
The right-hander retired 19 consecutive Brewers batters before Bandy broke the streak by walking with two outs in the seventh. Chacin responded by fanning Broxton, ending what qualified as his second-best start of the season.
Garza was sharp as well for the Brewers. He allowed just two hits and a walk through the first five innings as Milwaukee maintained its slim 1-0 lead before San Diego broke through in the sixth.
With two outs, Wil Myers reached on an infield single with the Brewers in a shift. Yangervis Solarte followed with a sinking liner to center that Broxton got to in plenty of time but appeared to misjudge.
He fell to the ground as the ball got past him for what was ruled a double, and Myers motored around from first to knot the score at 1-1.
It was a hard-luck couple of at-bats for Garza, who responded by fanning Austin Hedges to finish the frame and his night. He allowed four hits and one walk while striking out three in a 91-pitch outing.
It was the fourth consecutive quality start for Garza, who's made five in all since being reinstated from the disabled list on April 24.
