Indians 8, Padres 6: David Murphy homered and drove in four runs as Cleveland withstood a late rally by visiting San Diego in the opener of a three-game series.

Murphy scored three times and Nyjer Morgan went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a stolen base for Cleveland, which allowed three runs in the ninth before John Axford retired Will Venable with a runner on for his third save. Corey Kluber (1-1) started on an extra day’s rest after Monday’s scheduled game was rained out and yielded three runs on nine hits and no walks while striking out eight over six innings.

The Indians scored three runs without a hit in the third inning off Tyson Ross (0-2), who ran into trouble after walking the first two batters. Ross issued five free passes over 5 1/3 innings while allowing seven runs (two earned) on five hits for the Padres, who have lost five of their last six.

Jedd Gyorko doubled in two runs with one out in the fourth, but Kluber retired Tommy Medica and Alexi Amarista to end the inning. Yasmani Grandal recorded a career-high four hits and Everth Cabrera had a career-high three doubles for San Diego, which set a season-high run total and outhit the Indians 15-8.

Murphy, who went 4-for-5 with two doubles Sunday against Minnesota, belted a two-out, three-run homer into the right-field seats in the fourth to push the Indians’ lead to 6-2. After Gyorko singled in a run in the sixth, Murphy and Morgan answered with consecutive run-scoring hits off Tim Stauffer in the bottom half.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The teams will play a traditional doubleheader Wednesday with Padres LH Eric Stults (0-1, 11.25 ERA) facing Indians RH Zach McAllister (0-0, 6.75) in the opener and Padres LH Robbie Erlin (0-0, 0.00) taking the mound in the nightcap against Indians RH Trevor Bauer (2013: 1-1, 5.29). … Xavier Nady hit a solo homer in the ninth and Venable had two hits for the Padres. … Kluber allowed the leadoff batter to reach base in each of the first four innings.