SAN DIEGO -- Just when San Diego thought it turned the corner on getting punished by Adrian Gonzalez, it was once again defeated by the former Padre and San Diego County native Sunday.

Four innings after tying the game with a two-out, eighth-inning double, the Los Angeles first baseman hit a two-run, two-out, bases-loaded single in the top of the 12th inning Sunday to give the Dodgers a 4-2 victory over the Padres in the rubber match of a three-game weekend series at Petco Park.

Up until the eighth inning, Gonzalez was 1-for-10 in the series and had grounded into four double plays.

However, he was 15-for-33 (.455) in the first three series against the Padres this season with three doubles, six homers and 11 RBIs.

"I think the better team won two of the three games," Gonzalez said after the Dodgers improved to 8-4 against the Padres this season -- taking all four series between the teams by identical 2-1 counts.

We knew they would be close. They are always close."

The Dodgers scored twice in the 12th as their bullpen was throwing 7 1/3 scoreless innings and center fielder Joc Pederson sent the game into extra innings with an extraordinary, over-the-head catch of a Justin Upton drive at the center field fence with two outs in the ninth and the winning run at second.

Pederson raced back at full speed and caught the ball as he ran into the fence.

"I think the situation made it bigger than it was," Pederson said of the catch. Other Dodgers saw it differently.

"Just incredible," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said of the catch. "We've seen that in him ... and those two or three plays he made in the gap today. He's one of the few guys you see who turns and runs to an area. That allows him to cover more ground."

"I never thought it was going out, but I thought it was going to be over his head," said Upton, who screamed "No!" as he saw Pederson make the catch while rounding first base."

After the Dodgers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game with single runs in the seventh (on left fielder Andre Ethier's solo homer) and eighth (Yasiel Puig scoring from first on Gonzalez's double after drawing a two-out walk), their bullpen worked out of jams in the seventh, ninth and 10th before pushing across two in the 12th.

Third baseman Alberto Callaspo started the game-winning rally with a one-out double off right-handed reliever Dale Thayer, the sixth of seven pitchers used by the Padres. Thayer then issued consecutive walks to Kike Hernandez and Pederson -- loading the bases with one out.

Pinch-hitter Alex Guerrero lined out to Matt Kemp with the right fielder's perfect throw to the plate forcing Callaspo to hold at third.

Gonzales then lined a single to center off Thayer (2-2).

"It was a fastball that was elevated a little," said Gonzalez of the pitch for his game-winning hit. "I tried to stay on top of it because he's a fly ball pitcher. I didn't want to get under it and I tried to hit it on a line and it ended up in the right spot."

Right-hander Josh Ravin (2-0), the sixth of seven Dodgers pitchers, got the win. Right-handed closer Kenley Jansen got his ninth save.

Earlier, Upton had given the Padres a 2-0 lead in the fifth with a two-out, two-run, bases-loaded single in the fifth off Dodgers starter Mike Bolsinger.

Padres right-handed starter James Shields allowed one run on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts over seven innings to depart with a 2-1 lead. The only run allowed by Shields was the Ethier homer -- the Dodger outfielder's ninth and the 16th allowed by Shields in 14 starts.

Shields was not happy about coming out of the game after seven innings and 86 pitches.

"We talked in the dugout (after the seventh) and I thought it was time for him to come out," said Padres manager Bud Black. "His secondary pitches were good but