In a day that had San Diego sports fans in a frenzy thanks to the San Diego State Aztecs playing in the NCAA National Championship game, there was still a Padres’ game happening that is important as any are during a 162 game season.

The Padres did not disappoint in making Monday a magical night, walking off the Diamondbacks after heading into the ninth inning down a run.

With San Diego hosting the Diamondbacks to begin a quick two-game series before they take a day off and hit the road, the Padres threw out left-hander Ryan Weathers who made just his second start with the big league club since 2021.

Weathers did his job on Monday night, going five innings and allowing just a pair of runs on five hits.

The Padres started the game with a single from Trent Grisham and then a two-run home run from Juan Soto, his first of the season. Weathers, however, couldn’t hold the lead and immediately allowed the Diamondbacks to tie the game after three straight singles to start the top of the second.

The Padres would grab back a 3-2 lead after a single off the bat of Manny Machado spun its way to the first base bag, hitting off of it and into the outfield, scoring Roughned Odor, who had started the inning with a double.

The Padres’ bullpen could not hold on to the lead, giving up a pair of solo home runs, the most important of which came from Evan Longoria, whose ninth-inning solo shot gave Arizona a 4-3 lead.

Heading into the bottom of the ninth and down a run, Bob Melvin pinch-hit, David Dahl, who drove a hanging changeup to the left-centerfield bleachers to tie the game and send Petco Park into a frenzy.

“It’s big for him. He hasn’t gotten a lot of at-bats. To come up in the ninth inning and have to lead off against a guy that nobody really knows anything about. Pretty exciting at-bat for him,” said Melvin about Dahl’s big home run to tie the game leading off the bottom of the ninth.

Next to follow was Ha-Seong Kim, who made the crowd erupt even louder. What came next did not disappoint at all. After working the count to 3-1, Kim took a hanging slider and hit it over the left field wall to give the Padres a remarkable comeback 5-4 victory.

“He definitely has the power. He came up big today. We know he has the ability to do that.  You know, back-to-back is pretty exciting,” said Melvin glowing about Kim’s heroics.

The crowd could be heard screaming Kim’s name before, during, and after his walk-off home run, sending the crowd home happy as the Padres have now won three in a row after dropping their first two games.

The Padres will look to take the two-game sweep on Tuesday afternoon, with Yu Darvish making his 2023 Padres’ debut.

Kevin Modafferi

Kevin is a San Diego Native covering the San Diego Padres and their affiliates