ARLINGTON, Texas _ The Padres on Tuesday raised their eyebrows, shrugged, laughed and moved on.
And survived.
They had another game to play _ and another opportunity to demonstrate how important it is to add runs whenever possible.
Wil Myers hit an uncontroversial grand slam in the first inning, and the Padres held on to beat the Rangers 6-4 at the end of a nine-game road trip.
All over various mediums, social and traditional, the world outside was losing its mind over the Rangers' reaction to Fernando Tatis Jr.'s grand slam the night before, and Padres manager Jayce Tingler even held a news conference to clarify some thoughts on the matter.
Padres players watched and read about some of the discussion regarding the controversy created Monday when Tatis hit a grand slam on a 3-0 pitch with his team up seven runs in the eighth inning. They mostly maintained, in background conversations, that the situation was being overblown. Some said they understood but didn't agree with the Rangers being upset or throwing at Manny Machado. A few were initially curious about Tingler's postgame comments that neither condemned the Rangers nor overtly supported Tatis, but they maintained they were not troubled because they knew their manager's intentions.
Then they went about winning for a second straight day and getting back above .500 (13-12).
Along the way, the Padres bullpen (and a fielding error) conspired to show once again how wise Yogi Berra was. Indeed, it seems, a game isn't over until it's over.
The Rangers three times threatened to turn the game upside down, including having the bases loaded in the sixth inning and bringing the winning run to the plate in the ninth before Cal Quantrill earned his first career save by getting Todd Frazier on a fly ball to center field.
The Padres had upped their lead to 6-0 on Jurickson Profar's two-run homer in the fourth inning when Tatis seemed to upset at least one Rangers pitcher again.
Tatis singled with two outs and moved to second on Machado's walk. Tatis took off running for third while pitcher Ian Gibaut still had the ball and appeared to be picked off about 15 feet in front of the bag when Gibaut threw to third baseman Frazier. But Tatis, as he has done multiple times in his short career, contorted his body around the tag attempt to reach third safely with his major league-leading sixth stolen base.
The Rangers appealed the call, which was upheld.
Gibaut, who is appealing a three-game suspension handed down Tuesday afternoon for throwing at Machado in retaliation for Tatis' swing Monday, struck out Eric Hosmer on the next pitch. Giabut evidently remains a student of the unwritten rules, because as he walked off the mound he turned back toward Tatis and appeared to say something.
But the next half-inning showed precisely why any dogma regarding when it is OK to swing or run or otherwise try to score is probably silly.
With starter Adrian Morejon pushing up against his pitch limit at the end of three hitless innings, the Padres turned to Javy Guerra in the fourth inning. He did not get an out.
Two singles and Joey Gallo's home run to center field halved the lead.
That turned the Padres' bullpen into an ant hill of activity. Craig Stammen, who gets warm quicker than any of the Padres' relievers, came in after Guerra walked Nick Solak.
Stammen immediately got Isaiah Kiner-Falefa to ground into an apparent double play. However, Machado fielded the grounder while running toward second and dropped the ball as he went to throw.
The Padres did turn two on the next batter, Derek Dietrich, whose grounder went the other way to second baseman Jake Cronenworth, who flipped to Tatis on the bag to start the double play. Scott Heineman followed with a double to get the Rangers to 6-4.
Stammen worked a perfect fifth inning before rookie Luis Patino came on to work the sixth.
Patino walked the bases loaded with two outs before getting pinch-hitter Jose Trevino on a fly ball to Myers in right field.
Drew Pomeranz, who leads the Padres with four saves and was thought to be the new closer with Kirby Yates on the injured list, was called on in the seventh inning.
He retired the Rangers in order in the seventh and struck out Gallo to start the eighth.
That's when Tingler came to take the ball. Emilio Pagan was brought in to try to get the final five outs.
The right-hander, who on Sunday in Arizona surrendered a three-run homer to Edauardo Escobar in the eighth inning, walked Solak before striking out Kiner-Falefa and getting Dietrich on a fly ball to Myers.
He got a strikeout and fly out to start the ninth before Shin-Soo Choo singled and Danny Santana walked.
Again, Tingler came out and Quantrill jogged in to face Frazier. Moments later, the Padres ended their road swing at 4-5.
