Jorge Alfaro did it again.
His fourth walk-off hit of the season, a two-run, bases-loaded single with two outs in the ninth inning completed a comeback from a five-run deficit for the Padres on Tuesday night.
Their first victory in four games, 6-5 over the Diamondbacks, marked the first time in their last eight games at Petco Park they scored more than three runs.
Alfaro grounded the first pitch he saw from Ian Kennedy through the middle of the infield, scoring Jake Cronenworth and Wil Myers.
Josh Bell led off the ninth inning with a walk. Eguy Rosario pinch-ran for him and Cronenworth reached on a fielder's choice, with Rosario out at second. Myers had hit a two-out single and moved to second on Jose Azocar's walk to set the stage for Alfaro.
At the point where the Padres broke a string of 15 scoreless innings, they were down by five runs and had yet to reach base against Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly.
The deficit felt insurmountable for this team in this ballpark.
Then there was life.
Kelly's perfect game vanished on a five-pitch walk by Bell to start the fifth inning. A pitch later, the possibility of a no-hitter and shutout disappeared along with the ball Jake Cronenworth sent over the Barrel Deck beyond right field. Ha-Seong Kim followed with a homer to the seats beyond left field.
Petco Park was as loud as it had been in weeks. It had been that long since the home team's fans had anything like that to cheer.
The three runs in the fifth inning matched the Padres' highest full-game total in any of their previous seven home games.
Six straight outs followed, but Bell hit a solo homer leading off the seventh to make it 5-4.
There would be a rally in the eighth, but it died with the team's two best hitters.
Pinch-hitter Azocar drew a lead-off walk and went to third on a one-out single by Jurickson Profar.
Juan Soto, who was booed after two at-bats Monday, came to the plate to a thunderous ovation. He struck out against left-hander Kyle Nelson.
After Diamondbacks manager brought in righty Reyes Moronta, Manny Machado received his usual ovation. Two pitches later, he popped out to first baseman Christian Walker.
Soto and Machado have each gone 0-for-4 the past two games.
The victory put the Padres three games up on the Brewers in the race for the National League's final playoff spot.
The Padres were shut out 5-0 by the Diamondbacks on Monday. They lost 7-0 to the Guardians on Aug. 24, the final game of the previous homestand.
Tuesday was the first time in eight home games they scored even four runs.
On their recently completed nine-game road trip, they scored fewer than four just once. But Petco Park has been among the major leagues' biggest wastelands for offense. And not just for the Padres. Entering Tuesday's games, the ballpark was yielding the second-fewest runs per game (7.44) and the lowest slugging percentage (.357) of any in the major leagues.
The Diamondbacks socked three solo home runs against Joe Musgrove in his 4 1/3 innings. The right-hander was charged with five runs, four of them earned.
Josh Rojas, the Diamondbacks' lead-off batter, swung at Musgrove's first pitch of the game, a fastball in the heart of the strike zone, and hit it five rows beyond the left-field wall.
Musgrove allowed the first batter in every inning he pitched to reach base. The Diamondbacks capitalized in the fourth.
Corbin Carroll singled to start the inning and was forced out at second on a grounder by Carson Kelly, who ended up scoring on a two-out double by Sergio Alcantara.
Daulton Varsho homered on the first pitch of the fifth inning, this one a curveball, to make it 3-0. After Musgrove struck out Ketel Marte, Christian Walker sent a 2-1 sinker over the wall in right field.
Jake McCarthy followed with a single against the shift, stole second base and went to third when catcher Jorge Alfaro's throw bounced off him and into left field. A walk to Carroll ended Musgrove's night, and a grounder by Kelly off reliever Tim Hill scored McCarthy.
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