NEW YORK _ The Padres stopped scoring for a while on what ended up being a wet and briefly wild Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
Then, as rain fell in the seventh inning, the Padres bullpen _ almost half of it _ gave up three-quarters of a four-run lead. Craig Stammen eventually pulled it together with one run to spare.
And for the 24th time in 24 chances to do so this season, the Padres won a game they led after seven innings, because Kirby Yates saved his major league-leading 21st game in 21 opportunities.
The Padres didn't do much after their biggest first inning of the season, but the damage done before they even made an out turned out to be all they needed for a 5-4 victory, because Eric Lauer (4-4) was sharp enough and the six relievers who followed him were just good enough for long enough.
Greg Garcia started the game by slapping a ball the other way for what seemed would be the game's first out. But third baseman D.J. LeMahieu bobbled the slow roller, and Garcia was aboard.
It would be 4-0 before Masahiro Tanaka (3-4) retired his first batter.
Garcia went to second on Franmil Reyes' hard single to right field and scored on a bloop single that Manny Machado fisted high off the handle of his bat into left field.
Two pitches later, Eric Hosmer sent a sinker that Tanaka left too far above the bottom of the zone 426 feet into the netting that covers Monument Park, beyond the center-field wall.
Hunter Renfroe followed with a strike out, and after Wil Myers' bunt single the Padres did not get another hit until Hosmer's single with one out in the fifth inning.
The Padres added a run in the sixth when Ty France grounded a one-out single up the middle, went to second on Austin Hedges' single that he muscled the other way on a fastball below and well outside the strike zone and scored on a perfect bunt by Garcia that seemingly surprised the Yankees.
To that point, Aaron Hicks' first-inning single and Gary Sanchez's 436-foot homer in the fourth inning was all the Yankees had mustered against Lauer.
He had thrown 73 pitches and gotten a first-pitch strike against 14 of the 18 batters he had faced. He began the sixth by getting LeMahieu to fly out on an 0-2 cutter. It was the seventh time Lauer had gotten ahead 0-2 Tuesday, but LeMahieu did what the others had not _ fouled off three two-strike pitches.
Luke Voit and Hicks followed with hard singles. With Sanchez on deck, Padres manager Andy Green walked to the mound to make a change.
As the Yankees threatened for the first time, the night's first "Let's go Yankees" chant broke out.
Wisler struck out Sanchez and got Gleyber Torres on a fly ball to left field.
Skies that had looked ominous all night finally opened up, and the Padres' bullpen leaked.
Left-hander Brad Wieck came in to start the eighth. He walked Kendrys Morales and struck out Clint Frazier before Phil Maton was called on to face Thairo Estrada, who walked.
Green went to his third pitcher, left-hander Robbie Erlin. Brett Gardner hit a 105.7 mph grounder that skipped off the top of Hosmer's glove for a single that loaded the bases.
Stammen came in to face LeMahieu, who hit a grounder through the middle of the infield to bring in two runs. Voit followed with a dribbler up the third base line that re-loaded the bases, and Hicks hit a grounder to second base that got the second out but also got the Yankees to 5-4.
Stammen got Sanchez on a fly ball to left and then retired the Yankees in order in the eighth before Yates came in to face his former team.
Yates, who posted a 5.23 ERA in 41 games for the Yankees in 2016, allowed a single by pinch-hitter Gio Urshela before Brett Gardner's short pop fly resulted in a fielder's choice and LeMahieu grounded into a double play, with the final out not becoming official until after a replay challenge.
