ARLINGTON, Texas -- Jonathan Lucroy told Mike Napoli before the game that he was due for a big night.

Napoli made good on that prediction.

Napoli crushed a three-run homer in the ninth to lift the Texas Rangers to a 5-2 comeback win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday night at Globe Life Park.

"I believed (Lucroy). I never come into something thinking I'm going to fail," said Napoli, who came into the game batting .160. "It's always I'm going to go up there and try to execute a plan, and I'm confident that I'm going to get something done.

"So when he said that, I smiled and I gave him a look of 'let's get it on.' It's great to have teammates that have your back, not just when you're going good, but through the tough times."

Napoli's blast was his second in the game. Texas was trailing 2-0 going into the eighth before Napoli's solo shot off San Diego starter Clayton Richard pulled Texas within one.

Richard left a slider in Napoli's sweet spot.

"I showed him quite a few his first couple of at-bats, and then it was not a very good pitch," Richard said. "First pitch you're trying to throw for a strike, but it was elevated, not a ton of action. He's a good enough hitter when you throw a pitch like that, he's going to do damage on it."

That started the rally that continued in the ninth against Padres closer Brandon Maurer. The Rangers tied the game 2-2 on Rougned Odor's one-out single with the runners at the corners.

Napoli followed with a 448-foot shot into the second deck in left field. His fourth career walk-off homer and 15th career multi-homer game allowed Texas (16-20) to post a third win in the four-game, home-and-home series against San Diego.

"It was nice to contribute, especially the way I've been going lately," Napoli said. "The at-bat before felt pretty good. It was a feeling I've been looking for for a long time, and in that last at-bat, I was just trying to repeat it."

Napoli's late heroics came after an unlikely pitchers' duel between a pair of lefties who struggled as of late. But neither Richard nor Texas starter Martin Perez factored in the decision.

Richard allowed just one run in seven-plus innings after racking up an 8.36 ERA and 0-2 mark in his previous three starts. He allowed five hits and struck out four with one walk in his second-longest outing of the season.

The five hits tied for the fewest allowed by Richard this season.

"He pitched exactly how he wanted to, gave us every opportunity to win the baseball game," Padres manager Andy Green said.

Perez came in with a four-game losing streak. After giving up a run in the first, he racked up five scoreless innings before leaving with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh. The Padres would make it 2-0 on Manuel Margot's sacrifice fly off Tony Barnette.

The two earned runs allowed followed a stretch of four games in which Perez posted a 5.48 ERA.

"He was throwing strikes today," Lucroy said. "Really throwing strikes and keeping the ball down in the zone."

Richard's shutout bid was spoiled when Napoli deposited the first pitch in the eighth in the left-field seats for his sixth home run. Carlos Gomez followed with a single, and that ended the night for Richard.

Gomez stole second and reached third with one out after a wild pitch by reliever Brad Hand. With the infield in, Pete Kozma lined out to leaping shortstop Erick Aybar. Hand struck out Delino DeShields to end the inning.

Mauer was after his fifth save, but he didn't record another out after Shin-Soo Choo flied out to lead off the ninth.

Texas opens up a three-game home series with Oakland on Friday. San Diego (13-23) starts a three-game set at the Chicago White Sox.

The Padres got to Perez early, pounding out three hits in the first. Ryan Schimpf drove in Matt Szczur with two outs for the first run.

NOTES: Texas 3B Adrian Beltre (strained right calf) took batting practice on the field for the first time in three weeks before the game. No timetable remains for his return. ... San Diego didn't hit a home run, but still has more than half of its runs (66 of 127) via the long ball this season. "You can't rely on the home run every single day," manager Andy Green said. "You're not going to get enough of them and score enough runs to win." ... San Diego dropped to 6-14 on the road and 16-19 all-time against Texas. ... The Rangers improved to 10-8 at home and are 4-6-1 in series this season.