The Padres returned to the Giants in the 10th, a complete sweep

SAN FRANCISCO – An opportunity awaits the Padres this weekend in San Francisco There are currently six other teams in the National League playoff picture, and all six of those teams were playing series against each other elsewhere.

Which gave the Padres this assurance: If they were to win, they knew they'd get… someone on base.

It turns out, they gain ground on everyone.

San Diego completed an incredibly important sweep of the Giants with a 4-3 win in 10 innings Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park. The win moved them 20 games over .500 for the first time since 2010.

“It was huge,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said of the sweep. “Especially how close the location is now. This team is on a mission and we definitely want to get there. That's what it takes.”

Tatis' eighth-inning homer — the first of his career as a pinch-hitter — put the Padres on top. In the ninth, closer Robert Suarez endured his second blown save in three attempts. But San Diego rallied for good with a two-run rally in the 10th, improving to 9-1 in extra innings this season (after a horrendous 2-12 mark a year ago).

“When you get into close games, it's about execution,” manager Mike Shields said.

With the win, San Diego moved 3 1/2 games back of the Dodgers in the National League West race after defeating the Los Angeles Braves on Sunday Night Baseball.

In fact, the Padres emerged from their weekend series closer to the top of the division than the cut line. Their sweep moved them 3 1/2 games ahead of the Mets, currently the first team out of the playoff picture.

The Padres also picked up two games on the Diamondbacks, who avoided a sweep with a 10-inning victory over Milwaukee on Sunday. San Diego leads the race for the top wild card spot by 1 1/2 games over Arizona. It's a lot to take in.

“We have other teams around,” Tatis said. “Obviously we want to win every game. But if you're in baseball — and this team loves the game — everybody's paying attention.”

Tatis was out of the starting lineup Sunday, another planned off-day as part of his return to action after an extended absence due to a stress reaction in his right leg. The Padres would prefer to avoid using Tatis on those days off. (After pinch-hitting his bat, they couldn't play Platinum Glover in right field.)

But with the game tied at 1 in the eighth, the situation clearly called for Tatis. He wasted no time, launching the first pitch into the left-center-field seats for his first career pinch-hit home run.

“I was going to be ready for whatever,” Tatis said.

Five-plus innings of one run from lefty starter Martin Perez led the Padres to a 2-1 lead heading into the ninth. That's when Suarez — who had just two saves in the ninth inning over the first five months of the season — endured his second of three outings.

Ten days earlier, Suarez had three aboard, then surrendered the Tigers' go-ahead grand slam to Parker Meadows. He wasn't nearly as restless on Sunday. But Giants left fielder Heliot Ramos hit an opposite-field home run on Suarez's 100.2 mph fastball, tying the game at 2.

The Padres, of course, have plenty of closer candidates in their loaded bullpen. But after the game there is no doubt that Suarez will be his man in the Shield.

“I'll take him to a one-run game tomorrow, I'll tell you that,” Shields said.

As they have all season, the Padres have responded. David Peralta led off the 10th with a home single. Luis Arraz — who extended his streak without a strikeout to 140 plate appearances — hit an opposite-field double. That moved Peralta to third before Donovan Solano scored on an RBI groundout.

The Padres took a two-run lead into the bottom of the 10th inning, where they showed an embarrassment of riches in the bullpen. They have already used their four highest-leverage weapons. And yet, they still had Adrian Morzon — who owns a 3.00 ERA and a 2.86 FIP over 60 innings this season — for 10th. Morzon made his second career save.

“It's great to be a part of this bullpen,” Morzon said through interpreter Pedro Gutierrez. “… We have an opportunity to give our team a chance to win every day.”