SAN DIEGO (Interstat) — Nick Pivetta delivered a dominant bounce-back performance, striking out eight over five sharp innings, and Ramón Laureano launched a decisive two-run homer as the San Diego Padres avoided a series sweep with a 7-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday afternoon at PETCO Park.

A crowd of 41,491 watched the Padres, under rookie manager Craig Stammen, halt a two-game skid against their National League West rivals and level both teams’ early-season records at 2-4. The Giants, managed by rookie skipper Tony Vitello, had taken the first two games of the series but could not solve Pivetta or the Padres’ bullpen in the finale.

The most critical sequence of the game arrived in the bottom of the eighth inning, transforming a tight contest into a comfortable Padres victory. Holding a 3-1 lead, San Diego erupted for four runs to put the game out of reach. The rally started with a double from Manny Machado. Laureano, who had singled and scored earlier, then provided the exclamation point, driving a 2-1 offering from reliever José Buttó over the left-center field wall for a two-run homer, extending the lead to 5-1.

The Padres were far from done. Jake Cronenworth and Gavin Sheets worked walks, and after a strikeout, Bryce Johnson walked to load the bases. Fernando Tatis Jr. then chopped an infield single off Buttó and third baseman Matt Chapman, allowing Cronenworth to score. Xander Bogaerts followed with a bases-loaded walk to force in another run, capping the outburst and providing the final 7-1 margin.

That offensive surge rendered the Giants’ lone run moot. San Francisco had scratched across a run in the seventh to cut the deficit to 3-1 when Luis Arraez doubled, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on Harrison Bader’s single to left off reliever Adrian Morejon. It was one of only four hits on the afternoon for the Giants’ offense, which struggled mightily after scoring 12 runs in the series’ first two games.

The story through the first six innings, however, was Pivetta. The San Diego right-hander, shelled for six runs in three innings in a loss to Detroit on opening day, was in complete command. He allowed just one hit—a second-inning single to Arraez—and walked one while racking up eight strikeouts. He retired the final 11 batters he faced, overpowering the heart of the Giants’ order.

San Francisco starter Adrian Houser matched Pivetta for much of his outing but was ultimately tagged with the loss. Houser worked 5 1/3 innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits with four strikeouts. The Padres broke through against him with single tallies in the first, fifth, and sixth innings, each fueled by Giants’ miscues.

In the first, Jackson Merrill singled and scored when Machado’s ground ball to third resulted in a throwing error by first baseman Casey Schmitt after a clean pickup by Chapman. The Padres took a 2-1 lead in the fifth without a hit, as a two-out throwing error by Chapman on a Bogaerts grounder allowed Sheets, who had doubled, to score from third.

San Diego added another in the sixth against the Giants’ bullpen. Laureano singled, Cronenworth followed with another single, and Sheets laced an RBI double down the right-field line to plate Laureano.

After Pivetta departed, the Padres’ bullpen slammed the door. Jeremiah Estrada struck out two in a perfect seventh. Mason Miller, who earned his second save, entered with two on in the eighth and recorded a strikeout to end the threat, then struck out two more in a scoreless ninth, allowing one hit. Morejon bridged the gap with 1 2/3 innings of relief, yielding the Giants’ only run.

Arraez was a bright spot for San Francisco, collecting three of the team’s four hits and scoring its lone run. For the Padres, Sheets went 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored, while Laureano’s 2-for-4 afternoon included the game-breaking homer.

The victory allowed San Diego to salvage the final game of the homestand before embarking on a six-game East Coast road trip starting Friday in Boston. The Giants, after taking two of three in the series, return home to San Francisco to begin a four-game set with the New York Mets on Thursday.

According to Interstat, the final score closely mirrored their projection of a 7-2 Padres win. Their ELO system had given San Diego a 58.4% probability to win, and the Padres covered the pregame spread of -1.5 with their late offensive explosion.