Early O’Hearn slam and Vásquez gem help Padres blank Brewers

SAN DIEGO –  Any concerns that there may be a bit of an exhale in San Diego after punching their postseason ticket were immediately erased, as the Padres powered past the Milwaukee Brewers 7-0 on Tuesday night at Petco Park.

Starter Randy Vásquez threw seven one-hit innings, and Ryan O’Hearn’s grand slam was one of three home runs for the Padres (87-71), whose 27 home runs in September match their most hit in a month this season. Milwaukee (95-63) was shut out for the third time this month and have dropped four of their last five games.

"We've got a deep team, so the group is focused properly on taking care of all the businesses," said manager Mike Shildt. "One of the advantages of winning, a sidebar is being able to set things up, but the reality is it sets us up to get guys right and get guts rested.

"But by no mistake, we were clear about it last night (and) clear about it today today before the game and the clubhouse is clear is that, yeah, we are going to work within it, but we're going to use our 28 men."

Vásquez matched the longest start of his career, throwing seven innings and allowing a lone single to Christian Yelich in the third inning. He struck out three and walked two, and did not allow a runner into scoring position while throwing a season-high 97 pitches.

"It was really the plan of attack that we had with (Freddy) Fermin tonight, those guys are kind of passive, so for us it was just to get ahead of the counts and work from there," Vásquez said.

The offense supported their starter immediately as O’Hearn swatted the fifth grand slam of the season for the Brown and Gold in the first inning, adding to his career-high of 17 homers for the year and setting a new personal best with 62 RBIs. After falling behind 0-2, O’Hearn worked the count event and then was able to extend on an elevated, outside splitter to send it 366 feet out down the right field line.

It was set up by Arraez leading off with a single and Gavin Sheets drawing a walk, his 43rd freebie matching his career high-water mark, and Ramón Laureano hitting a knock to left field.

"We've still got some things to play for, we want to play at home in front of these fans in the postseason, so we're going to grind every night, try to win every game and see where we end up," O'Hearn said. "I thought Randy set the tone for us tonight, he was pounding the zone, kind of had them on their heels all night throwing a lot of strikes, it makes it fun to play defense behind him."

Then the following inning Mason McCoy reached on a throwing error by second baseman Brice Turang, which Arraez made hurt immediately. He jumped all over starter Bruce Zimmerman’s up and in cutter, turning on it and hitting it off the pole in right field for his eighth home run of the season.

Jose Iglesias added the third home run of the night by hitting his second big fly in as many nights, crushing an inside fastball from reliever Tobias Myers to left field for his third homer of the season.

San Diego had ranked in the bottom third in home runs per month over the first five full months of the season, but now rank in the top ten for the month of September. After not hitting a grand slam until July 20, San Diego has hit five since and are tied with the Athletics for eighth-most in the Majors.

Wandy Peralta pitched the eighth inning, starting with a strikeout before allowing a single that broke a stretch of 15 batters retired in a row. He finished with the hit allowed and a pair of K’s, stranding a man on third. Yuki Matsui closed out the ninth by allowing a hit.

Xander Bogaerts made his first start since Aug. 27 when he was diagnosed with a fracture in his foot. Shildt said he liked the solid defensive plays made in the second and fifth innings, and thought Bogaerts' presence returning to the lineup was a good spot.

With the postseason spot clinched, San Diego was able to give Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill and Jake Cronenworth a rest. Fernando Tatis Jr. also was not in the lineup, missing his second straight game due to illness.

The New York Mets picked up a win at the Chicago Cubs, moving the Mets a game up on the Cincinnati Reds for the final NL Wild Card, as well as helping the Padres pull within 1.5 games of Chicago for the top Wild Card. Additionally, the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied to walk-off the Los Angeles Dodgers, trimming the Brown and Gold's margin in the NL West to 1.5 games back of LA.

In the series finale, Dylan Cease (8-12, 4.64 ERA) will take the ball to make his 32nd start of the season — which would tie him for the Majors lead. The Brewers will counter with righty Quinn Priester (13-2, 3.25 ERA) for the 1:10 first pitch at Petco Park.

This story was updated at 9:34 p.m.