Renfroe slam in 9th rocks Brewers

MILWAUKEE — Hunter Renfroe’s grand slam off Joakim Soria in the ninth inning keyed a six-run rally that stunned the Brewers and gave the Padres an 8-4 victory on Thursday.

Renfroe, who homered for the fourth straight game, went deep one pitch after Soria nearly struck him out.

“It was a great pitch, off the plate,” Renfroe said of the one he took for a ball. “I was able to lay off it and get a pitch I could handle.”

Franmil Reyes capped the sixrun outburst with a solo homer to right field off Jacob Barnes. The inning began with Brewers reliever Corey Knebel walking three straight batters and then giving up an infield single to Travis Jankowski before being replaced by Soria.

“(I) couldn’t throw a strike,” Knebel said. “Nothing else going on. I just couldn’t find the zone.”

Brewers manager Craig Counsell said he may use other options to close games in the future.

“Whether it’s the seventh, eighth, ninth or sixth, we need those outs,” Counsell said. “I think the next time out we’ll get (Knebel) an easier spot, but at some point we’re going to try to get him back to working big spots in the game.

“We function best when Corey handles the ninth. But if we have to do things a little differently to get him back on track, then that’s how we’ll approach it.”

The Padres finished 4-3 on their Midwest trip as they split four games with the Cubs and won two of three against the Brewers, who fell two games behind the idle Cubs in the National League Central.

Part of it is guys just saying, ‘Enough was enough. It’s time to go play winning baseball.’ ” Padres manager Andy Green said of his team’s recent showing.