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Padres 5, Diamondbacks 3: Melvin Upton walks off

Extra innings are always worth it when they end like this.

By darklighter
MLB: Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

It was an exhausting road to travel, but the Padres have finally won a home game after 50 innings of baseball. Tonight's hero was Melvin Upton, who hit a two-run homer to deep center field in the fourteenth inning for a walkoff win.

Upton was actually the first Padre to score this evening, way back in the second inning. After singling to center, he stole second base with two outs and scored on another single from Alexei Ramirez. Three walks in a row plated another Friar and sent Diamondbacks' starter Shelby Miller packing early. They dropped another run in the third when Matt Kemp homered off one-time Padre prospect Matt Buschmann.

Andrew Cashner put up a quality start, allowing just one run in six innings of work. The bullpen had a harder time of things. Yasmany Tomas hit a one-out double off Kevin Quackenbush and then took third on an error by Upton. Brandon Maurer got stung by the double as well, with Rickie Weeks getting one to lead off the eight. A groundout put him on third, and a wild pitch tied the game.

The next five innings were scoreless. A lot of credit has to go to Brad Hand, who threw two and a third innings while striking out five to keep the game going. He had some help from Travis Jankowski, who stole an extra base hit from Nick Ahmed in the eleventh inning.

But the hero of the night was Upton. He was already 2-for-6 when he stepped to the plate in the fourteenth. With two outs and Wil Myers on first, the odds didn't look good. But that didn't stop Melvin, who saw Rubby de la Rosa's first pitch and decided that was good enough.

The team will look to win the series when Robbie Erlin gets the start at 1:40 tomorrow.

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