Parker Meadows cracked a grand slam with two outs in the top of the ninth inning Thursday night to lifting the visiting Detroit Tigers to a stunning 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres.Detroit (71-70) avoided a three-game series sweep with a dramatic ninth inning rally against closer Robert Suarez (8-3). Justyn-Henry Malloy led off the inning with a single and Jace Jung walked. After Spencer Torkelson popped up, Colt Keith drew a walk to fill the bases.Suarez fanned Kerry Carpenter for the second out but Meadows turned on a 3-2 fastball and ripped it 361 feet into the left field seats for his sixth homer of the year.Ricky Vanasco (1-0) pitched the eighth inning for his first MLB win and Tyler Holton retired San Diego in the ninth to pick up his seventh save. The result allowed Detroit (71-70) to move within five games of idle Kansas City for the final American League wild-card spot.Meanwhile, San Diego (80-62) missed on a chance to gain ground on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. The Padres trail the Dodgers by five games but did stay a half-game ahead of Arizona, which lost in San Francisco, for the NL’s first wild-card position.Casey Mize lasted 5 1/3 innings for Detroit, allowing six hits and three runs with a walk and two strikeouts. San Diego’s Martin Perez fired 6 1/3 shutout innings, permitting five hits and a walk while whiffing five.
