ATLANTA — The Padres began a seven-game road trip that will have them facing two of the National League’s other heavyweights with a rumble.
The Braves won Round 1 with a 7-6 victory on a walk-off single by Orlando Arcia.
The teams traded leads, and both came back to tie the game once before Eddie Rosario’s two-out double and Arcia’s single to center off Nabil Crismatt gave the Braves a victory in their home opener.
Atlanta, which has won six of its seven games, took a 2-0 lead with a run in the first and another in the third before Matt Carpenter’s three-run homer in the fourth put the Padres ahead.
Padres starter Blake Snell had struggled with command all night, and it only got worse after he walked to the mound with the lead in the fourth and got the first out on one pitch.
Sean Murphy followed with a double before Snell record the 1,000th strikeout of his career by getting Sam Hilliard to swing at a full-count curveball that dove below the strike zone.
That got Snell one out further than he had gone on opening day, and it would be the last out he recorded.
Keivn Pillar flared a single into left field, and Snell proceeded to walk Arcia and Ronald Acuna Jr. to load the bases. He then threw four straight balls to Matt Olson.
That brought Bob Melvin from the dugout to replace Snell with Domingo Tapia. The right-hander ended the carnage with a strikeout of Riley.
After Tapia survived two walks and a single in the fifth, the Padres were facing a new pitcher at the start of the sixth.
One thing they did consistently against Braves starter Spencer Strider was work counts, and he was at 101 pitches after five innings.
Jake Cronenworth led off the sixth by greeting left-handed Lucas Luetge with a home run to right field on a 2-0 cutter to tie the game 4-4.
Steven Wilson allowed just one walk in his two innings, and the Padres again went up in the eighth.
Xander Bogaerts and Cronenworth walked to begin the inning against former Padres closer Kirby Yates. Both advanced on a fly ball by Carpenter but were still there after Austin Nola struck out.
Bogaerts scored when Yates bounced his famed split-finger fastball on an 0-1 count to José Azocar and the ball bounced up the first base line.
Azocar squared on the next pitch and rolled a bunt to the left side that third baseman Austin Riley threw wide of first base, allowing Cronenworth to score as Azocar raced to third.
Ha-Seong Kim popped out to end the inning.
Tim Hill got an out to start the inning before Arcia, who had homered in the third, grounded a double just inside the third base bag. Hill retired Acuna, but singles by Olson, Austin Riley and Travis d’Arnaud tied the game.
