Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres

Would you look at that? The Padres have won two in a row, and are back to .500. San Diego poured it on in a 10-4 victory over the Diamondbacks on Tuesday night, tying a season high in runs scored. Luis Campusano went deep, and Miguel Andujar became the first Padre with three doubles in a game since Donovan Solano in September 2024. Here’s some reaction from Petco Park: **Have the Padres righted the ship?** A few days ago, things looked bleak. The Padres had dropped eight straight, their longest losing streak since 2013. It came at the outset of a stretch in which they would play 17 games in 17 days. Something needed to change. And quick. Looks like it has. The Padres have played much better -- and cleaner -- baseball the past couple of nights. They’ve played complementary baseball, too. The offense poured it on late, scoring twice in the fifth, four times in the sixth and twice more in the seventh. “Nice to get the lead and add on,” said manager Craig Stammen. That afforded Michael King some breathing room for the sixth inning, then allowed Stammen to use some of his lower-leverage relievers to cover the seventh, eighth and ninth. Even when they’ve won, the Padres generally haven’t been able to do it like *this*. “Just good baseball all the way around,” said Fernando Tatis Jr., who reached base three times. Their problems aren’t solved, of course. There are still major rotation questions, and offensive performances like this one have been few and far between. As a result of those two things, they’re still 4 1/2 games out of the National League playoff picture. But for the first time in a long time, it feels like the Padres are trending upward. **King ends first half on a high note** King can be hard on himself. He deeply believes he should be an ace. When he doesn’t live up to those standards, he’s usually his harshest critic. So, no, King isn’t all that satisfied with his first-half performance. In 19 starts, he’s posted a 3.41 ERA. His strikeout rate is down, and his walk rate is up. “\[It’s been\