The Detroit Tigers were down to their final strike.

Parker Meadows stood at the plate with the bases loaded, three balls, two strikes and two outs against San Diego Padres right-handed reliever Robert Suarez. Meadows, a left-handed hitter, swung at an up-and-away 100.7 mph fastball and pushed the ball the opposite way for a grand slam to left field.

The clutch swing from Meadows in the top of the ninth inning accounted for all four Tigers runs, as they beat the Padres, 4-3, in Thursday's finale of the three-game series at Petco Park, avoiding a sweep.

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The Tigers (71-70) are five games back of the Kansas City Royals for the third and final spot in the American League wild-card race with 21 games remaining.

Before Meadows played hero, the Tigers had to set the table with quality plate appearances against one of the best relievers in baseball. A single from Justyn-Henry Malloy, a walk from pinch-hitter Jace Jung and a walk from Colt Keith loaded the bases.

Between the walks, Spencer Torkelson popped out for the first out. Kerry Carpenter then struck out swinging for the second out. After that, Meadows saved the Tigers with his slam.

Meadows received six fastballs in a row from Suarez: 101.5 mph (ball), 101.4 mph (swinging strike), 101.9 mph (ball), 101.1 mph (ball), 100.2 mph (foul) and 100.7 mph (in play). He swung at all three fastballs inside the strike zone while refusing to chase three outside heaters.

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Casey Mize on the mound

The Padres scored all three of their runs in the first and second innings with home runs against right-hander Casey Mize. He gave up a lot of hard contact throughout his 5⅓ innings, mitigating the problem by working out of jams in the later innings.

In the first inning, Jurickson Profar hammered a middle-up fastball in a full count with two outs for a solo home run to right field. His 22nd homer in his 139th game put the Padres ahead, 1-0.

The Padres extended their lead to 3-0 on a two-run home run from Xander Bogaerts — just his eighth homer in 92 games this season — in the second inning. Mize hung a slider up-and-in to Bogaerts, who turned on the pitch and drove it to left field.

Mize allowed three runs on six hits and one walk with two strikeouts across 5⅓ innings, throwing 83 pitches. The 27-year-old has been responsible for three earned runs apiece in back-to-back starts since returning from a two-month stint on the injured list.

He owns a 4.30 ERA in 18 starts.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' improbable rally in 9th gives them 4-3 win over Padres