SAN DIEGO (Interstat) — The San Diego Padres’ relentless early-season surge continued Thursday night, powered by a familiar formula: a decisive early outburst and a lockdown bullpen. Fernando Tatis Jr.’s two-run single capped a four-run rally in the second inning, and five pitchers combined to stifle the Seattle Mariners in a 5-2 victory at a sold-out PETCO Park.

The win was San Diego’s eighth straight and 11th in its last 12 games, improving its record to 13-6. Seattle, which has now lost three in a row to the Padres this week, fell to 8-12.

Walker Buehler, making his third start since signing with San Diego in the offseason, earned his first win in a Padres uniform. He navigated five innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out seven. The right-hander effectively worked around traffic, stranding runners in scoring position in the first and fourth innings before Seattle finally broke through against him in the sixth.

The game’s pivotal sequence came in the bottom of the second against Seattle starter Luis Castillo. After a quiet first inning, the Padres’ offense ignited. Gavin Sheets led off with a double to center, and Miguel Andujar followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Luis Campusano then drove in the first run with a ground-ball single to left. The inning escalated when Castillo committed a throwing error on Jake Cronenworth’s comebacker, loading the bases with one out.

Ramón Laureano’s groundout to first brought home Andujar to tie the game. Tatis then stepped in and laced a sharp line drive to center field, scoring Campusano and Cronenworth to give the Padres a 4-0 lead. That hit proved to be the decisive blow, as the Mariners’ offense struggled to mount a sustained threat against Buehler and the San Diego relief corps.

Castillo, who took the loss to fall to 0-1, settled in after the rocky second, ultimately going 5 1/3 innings and allowing four runs, though only one was earned due to his own error. He surrendered seven hits and struck out three.

Seattle clawed back in the top of the sixth. Cole Young and Brendan Donovan singled, putting runners at the corners for Cal Raleigh, who delivered an RBI single. Julio Rodríguez followed with another run-scoring single to cut the deficit to 4-2 and chase Buehler. The Mariners loaded the bases with one out after a walk, but Padres reliever Adrian Morejon entered and struck out pinch-hitter Connor Joe before getting J.P. Crawford to ground out, extinguishing the Mariners’ best chance.

San Diego added an insurance run in the seventh. Tatis was hit by a pitch, Jackson Merrill doubled, and Manny Machado delivered a two-out, pop-fly RBI single that dropped into shallow right field, scoring Tatis for a 5-2 lead.

From there, the Padres’ bullpen sealed the victory. Morejon, Jason Adam, and Bradgley Rodriguez handled the seventh and eighth innings. In the ninth, flame-throwing closer Mason Miller took over and authored a dominant finish, striking out the side on just 14 pitches. It was his sixth save and extended his remarkable scoreless innings streak to 30 2/3 innings, the longest active streak in the majors. The performance moved him past Randy Jones (30 innings in May 1980) for the second-longest such streak in Padres history, trailing only Cla Meredith’s 33 2/3 innings in 2006.

The Mariners managed seven hits total, with Donovan, Raleigh, and Rodríguez each collecting two. Their offense went 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. The Padres collected 10 hits, with Machado going 2 for 4 with an RBI.

The victory gave San Diego its third consecutive win in the three-game set against Seattle and marked just its fourth win in 12 games against the Mariners at PETCO Park since 2022. Seattle had won the season series 5-1 last year and claimed the inaugural Vedder Cup, a trophy named for Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, who has ties to both cities. The teams are scheduled to meet again for a three-game series in Seattle from May 15-17.

The announced attendance was 39,008, and the game time was 2 hours, 43 minutes.

The Padres, who have ridden this winning streak to the top of the National League West, will now head north to open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday. The Mariners, looking to halt their skid, return home to T-Mobile Park to begin a three-game set with the Texas Rangers on Friday night.

According to pregame projections, Interstat’s game simulator had predicted a 7-3 Padres victory, while its ELO system gave San Diego a 55.3% probability to win. The Mariners had been installed as a 1.5-run favorite on the betting line. The total of seven runs went under the over/under line of 8.