Padres Erase 5-1 Deficit, Stun Twins 7-5 in San Diego

San Diego scored six unanswered runs across the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to overcome a four-run deficit and beat Minnesota 7-5. The Padres turned what looked like a comfortable Twins win into a complete collapse, with the seventh inning alone producing four runs and the game's decisive swing.

Minnesota came out swinging — literally. Keaschall opened the scoring in the first with a 396-foot homer to left, and the second inning turned into a home run derby: Lee went deep to left center at 366 feet, Culpepper followed with a 400-foot shot to left, and Merrill answered for San Diego with a 411-foot blast to center. Three Twins homers in one inning staked Minnesota to a 3-1 lead, and the offense kept rolling — a Jeffers run in the third and a Lee run in the fourth pushed it to 5-1. At that point, this looked like a Twins win being gift-wrapped.

Then Griffin Canning exited after 3.1 innings having allowed no earned runs, and the Padres' bullpen steadied things while Minnesota's offense went quiet. Merrill singled home Cronenworth in the sixth to make it 5-2, and the seventh inning is where everything unraveled for Minnesota. Cronenworth doubled to left, scoring Tatis Jr. and Fermin — the win probability swung from 21% to 47% on that single swing. The inning wasn't done: Machado reached on a fielder's choice and Cronenworth scored on an error to tie it at 5-5, then France singled to right to score Machado and give San Diego its first lead of the night at 6-5. Tatis Jr. added an insurance run in the eighth with a single to center that scored Campusano, making it 7-5 and effectively closing the door.

The story of the night was the seventh inning, and it appears Minnesota's pitching staff simply had no answer once the Padres found their footing. Dean Kremer went 5.1 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 3 hits and 3 walks with 5 strikeouts — a serviceable outing that deserved better. Tommy Nance came on in relief and surrendered 3 hits and 1 earned run in a single inning, which looks like the moment the dam broke. For San Diego, Cronenworth was the catalyst — 2-for-5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored — while Merrill delivered in both phases with a homer and a go-ahead single. Minnesota got big performances from Lee (3-for-4, HR, 2 R) and Keaschall (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI), but five runs were not enough. Final: SD 7, MIN 5.