MILWAUKEE _ It appeared the Padres would be sent home having lost another series at the end of another disappointing road trip.
Then they walked three times and hit a dribbling infield hit, and Hunter Renfroe came to bat.
One grand slam later, the Padres had an 8-4 victory over Milwaukee on Thursday and their first series win in almost two months. They also ended a road trip with a winning record for the first time this season.
It gave them four victories in the seven-game trek through Chicago and Milwaukee and their first series win since they took two of three June 11-13 in St. Louis. They were 0-12-2 in the 14 series since then.
In a game in which the Padres hit into four double plays and entered the ninth trailing 4-2, they put together their biggest closing inning of the season.
It began with Freddy Galvis, A.J. Ellis and Carlos Asuaje walking to load the bases with no outs against Corey Knebel. Travis Jankowski followed with a slow chopper to the left of the mound that Knebel bobbled and may not have beaten Galvis with the throw anyway.
After Eric Hosmer's shallow fly ball to right field that couldn't get Ellis home, Renfroe fell behind 0-2 to Joakim Soria and watched a fastball just off the outer edge before turning on a fastball up and in and sending it well into the left-field seats.
Renfroe had already extended his hitting streak to a career-long seven games with a double in the sixth inning. The shot in the ninth inning extended his homer streak to a career-long four games. It was the first ninth-inning go-ahead grand slam by a Padre with the team trailing since Rondell White in 2003.
Franmil Reyes later added a solo homer, his third in four games.
The Padres got something started several times on Thursday but couldn't stop making two outs with one swing _ and in just about every manner possible.
A double by Jose Pirela started the second inning, and his running on Ellis' line drive to shortstop Hernan Perez ended the inning as Perez snagged Ellis' rope and jogged to step on the bag at third.
Pitcher Robbie Erlin's single led off the third inning, and he was promptly erased when Jankowski grounded into the standard shortstop-to-second-to-first double play.
Jankowski led off the fifth inning with a bunt single. Hosmer, the next batter, hit a hard grounder up the middle. Perez fielded the ball, stepped on the bag and threw to first.
And after Asuaje's pinch-hit single started the seventh inning, Jankowski grounded into a reverse double play that went into the book as 4-3-3-6-4, as Brewers second baseman couldn't tag Asuaje and threw to first baseman Jesus Aguilar for the first out before Asuaje was caught in a rundown.
Ironically _ or just as you'd expect _ the Brewers scored their first run after Pirela could not complete a double play in the second inning. Starting at second base for the fourth time on this seven-game trip, Pirela took a throw from Galvis to get the force at second, turned and fired a ball that sailed over the Brewers' dugout. Instead of there being three outs, Jonathan Schoop stood on second, and he scored on Manny Pina's single.
The Brewers added three runs in the fourth.
Hernan Perez and Travis Shaw singled and then executed a double steal before Schoop hit a two-RBI double. Schoop scored from second base when Galvis rushed in and rushed past a dribbling infield single by Lorenzo Cain.
One pitch later, Erlin picked off Cain, which made the final run of the inning unearned.
Erlin left after five innings having allowed the four runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk. It was his second straight start of five innings. He allowed a run on two hits to the Cubs a week earlier in Chicago.
He left with the Padres trailing 4-1.
Pirela got some redemption with an RBI single, but it was Reyes who earned the run by first legging out a double and then sprinting home to just beat the tag on Pirela's hard hit to right.
Galvis homered in the sixth. Kirby Yates pitched the final two innings and was credited with the win.
