SAN DIEGO (AP) — The slumping Minnesota Twins desperately needed a big game from Ervin Santana, who was more than happy to oblige.

Santana threw a four-hitter for his major league-best fifth complete game and hit a two-run single to lead the Twins to a 5-2 victory against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.

The Twins won for just the second time in nine games. They went 2-6 on a trip through Los Angeles, Oakland and San Diego.

“He was the starter, the middle man, the setup man, the closer and a clutch hitter,” manager Paul Molitor said. “It was a pretty good day for him and us.”

Santana (12-7) retired his first 10 batters. He struck out nine and walked one in his 21st career complete game.

Complete games are old school these days.

“That’s why every time I get a chance I want it because they’re not coming often,” the 34-year-old Santana said. “Every time you’re close to it you take advantage and you get it. It means a lot to me.”

The Twins traded All-Star closer Brandon Kintzler to Washington on Monday, so Santana’s nine innings were big.

Molitor checked with Santana after the eighth.

“He asked me how I feel and I said, ‘I want the ninth,’ ” the pitcher said. “He said, ‘OK, it’s all yours.’ “

Said Molitor: “He wanted the ball, which is what you want to hear. I trust him as much as anybody.

“My thought was, given the cushion, I wanted to make sure he felt OK,” Molitor said. “It’s a little different given the circumstance that we are kind of toying with who is going finish games. The fact that he had a three-run lead and he still had good stuff, I wanted to make sure he was OK to go back out there.”

Santana appreciated his manager’s confidence.

“It means durability. It means you throw a lot of strikes and you do your job,” Santana said.

Santana didn’t allow a baserunner until Cory Spangenberg singled to right with one out in the fourth. Jose Pirela followed with a homer to center to pull the Padres to 4-2. It was Pirela’s fifth.

“Everything was good,” Santana said. “First-pitch strikes. They’re very aggressive. Just get the ball down for the most part.”

“The slider is real,” San Diego manager Andy Green said. “It’s one of those pitches that down in the strike zone it’s really tough to see, it’s really tough to pick up. So he does deserve some credit. I’d love to see more fight in our at-bats, more consistency in our at-bats, but he does deserve a measure of credit for going nine innings against us today.

“I don’t think there was a person every at-bat that was locked into him. We had an occasional good at-bat. But overall, he handled us pretty easily.”

Joe Mauer had a double and single to tie Tony Oliva for third on Minnesota’s career hit list with 1,917.

The Twins jumped on Luis Perdomo (5-6) for four runs on four hits and two walks in the second. Santana hit a bases-loaded single to right with two outs. After Mauer walked to reload the bases, Eduardo Escobar hit a two-run single to left.

Santana was as aggressive at the plate as he was on the mound.

“First-pitch fastball, swinging,” he said. “Right field’s open.”

Minnesota’s Miguel Sano homered leading off the sixth, his 25th.

Perdomo allowed seven hits in six innings, struck out four and walked two.

UP NEXT

Twins: Rookie LHP Adalberto Mejia (4-4, 4.07 ERA) is scheduled to start Thursday night in the opener of a four-game home series against Texas.

Padres: After a day off, LHP Travis Wood (2-3, 6.42 ERA) will make his second start with his new team when San Diego opens a three-game series at Pittsburgh.

Twins 5, Padres 2

;Minnesota; San Diego;

;ab;r;h;bi; ;ab;r;h;bi

Mauer 1b;3;0;2;0;Margot cf;4;0;1;0

E.Escbr 2b;3;0;1;2;Spngnbr 3b;4;1;1;0

Kepler rf;4;0;0;0;Pirela lf;3;1;1;2

Sano 3b;4;2;2;1;Solarte 2b-ss;4;0;0;0

E.Rsrio lf;4;0;0;0;Myers 1b;4;0;0;0

Buxton cf;3;0;0;0;Renfroe rf;3;0;0;0

J.Plnco ss;4;1;1;0;Hedges c;3;0;0;0

J.Cstro c;2;1;0;0;Coleman ss;2;0;0;0

Er.Sntn p;3;1;1;2;Baumann p;0;0;0;0

;;;;;Stammen p;0;0;0;0

;;;;;Szczur ph;1;0;0;0

;;;;;Maton p;0;0;0;0

;;;;;Perdomo p;1;0;0;0

;;;;;Asuaje ph-2b;2;0;1;0

;Totals; 30;5;7;5;Totals; 31;2;4;2

Minnesota;040;001;000;—;5

San Diego;000;200;000;—;2

E_Pirela (3). DP_San Diego 1. LOB_Minnesota 2, San Diego 3. 2B_Mauer (20), J.Polanco (16). HR_Sano (25), Pirela (5). CS_E.Rosario (6). S_E.Escobar (1), Buxton (3).<

;IP;H;R;ER;BB;SO

Minnesota

Santana W,12-7;9;4;2;2;1;9

San Diego

Perdomo L,5-6;6;7;5;5;2;4

Baumann;1;0;0;0;0;0

Stammen;1;0;0;0;0;1

Maton;1;0;0;0;0;1

Umpires_Home, Chris Conroy; First, Chris Segal; Second, Jerry Meals; Third, Ron Kulpa.

T_2:24. A_23,806 (42,302).