CHICAGO _ On the day the Padres symbolically surrendered, they didn't give up.
A 10-6 victory over the Cubs on Sunday earned the team with the National League's worst record a split of its four-game series against the team with the National League's best record.
The afternoon victory followed a morning in which the Padres allowed two veteran pitchers to depart after they were claimed off waivers, a move calculated to create roster space for an influx of minor leaguers who will be showing what they have over the season's final two months.
After the Cubs tied the game at 5 in the seventh, _ a tie preserved by a great defensive play by Freddy Galvis _ a two-out walk and stolen base by Travis Jankowski was followed by Cory Spangenberg's RBI double.
Four runs in the ninth _ on Hunter Renfroe's two-run homer and a bases-loaded single by Jankowski _ provided cushion that was needed.
Kirby Yates was touched for a lead-off home run by Ben Zobrist and issued a one-out walk to Jason Heyward before striking out Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo to end the game.
Reliever Craig Stammen (5-1), who had allowed the tying run to score, pitched a perfect eighth to get the win.
Solo home runs by Galvis and Franmil Reyes, a two-run triple from Eric Hosmer and Renfroe's sacrifice fly had given the Padres a 5-1 lead entering the bottom of the fifth.
Baez's 24th home run of the season had accounted for the Cubs' only run, as Padres starter Joey Lucchesi to that point effectively limited the damage done by the NL's best-hitting team on a warm afternoon with the famous winds of Wrigley whipping out to the ivy-covered walls.
The Cubs' two-run fifth inning was ignited when Tommy La Stella reached on a catcher's interference when his swing hit Austin Hedges' glove. After Lucchesi recorded his second strikeout of the inning (and eighth of his nine in the game), Albert Almora Jr. lofted a single to shallow left field that Renfroe grabbed on a bounce, turned and fired into the Cubs dugout. That sent La Stella home. Baez followed with a double to score Almora, prompting the crowd to chant "MVP, MVP" in appreciation of the 25 year-old infielder.
Two pitches later, Baez took off for third, barely beat Hedges' throw but momentarily slid past the bag as third baseman Christian Villanueva's tag remained applied to his mid-section. Initially ruled safe, Baez was called out on a replay challenge.
In the sixth inning, after Jose Castillo had come in to replace Lucchesi with two out and runners on first and second, Hedges picked off David Bote at second to end the sixth.
Baez was again at the plate with a runner in scoring position in the seventh inning, after the Cubs had chased Castillo by scoring a run on three consecutive singles.
Craig Stammen replaced Castillo and struck out Baez. That brought Rizzo to the plate for the first time in the game. The All-Star first baseman, who was getting an off day after going 6-for-12 with two homers in the series' first three games, watched a strike go by before slapping a bloop single down the left-field line to tie the game.
With runners at first and third, Addison Russell hit a sharp liner up the middle that Galvis laid out to spear and then flipped the ball to second base while still on the ground for the inning-ending force out.
After two quick outs in the eighth, Jankowski fell behind 0-2 to Carl Edwards Jr. before taking four straight balls to reach base in his first plate appearance of the day. He stole second on Edwards' second pitch to Spangenberg and scored easily when Spangenberg sliced a line drive into center field.
