SAN DIEGO — Before batting practice Wednesday, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire gave a one-on-one tutorial for second baseman Alexi Casilla, who had been struggling to catch grounders when extending to his backhand side.

Gardenhire said he had Casilla get into a diving position, flat on the ground, so he could fire baseballs at his glove, letting Casilla work on the proper technique.

Sure enough, Edgar Gonzalez led off the fifth inning with a sharp bouncer up the middle. Casilla made a terrific diving stop, reaching out to make a backhanded catch and then throwing to first for the out.

That’s how things are going for the Twins, who defeated the Padres 9-3, extending their winning streak to eight games.

Afterward, Gardenhire downplayed the pregame session with Casilla.

“That was like Lesson 101 and 102, but he went to like 108 with that catch,” Gardenhire said. “I didn’t work on that one. He made a heck of a play.”

Error reversed

We’ve written a lot about the pitching and hitting during this winning streak, but the defense has been pretty good, too.

Justin Morneau was originally charged with two errors tonight. The first one was later reversed. It came in the fourth inning, when he missed a pop foul from Michael Barrett. The official scorer (correctly, in my opinion) later decided that it was too tough of a play for an error.

Then in the ninth, Brendan Harris fielded a grounder from Barrett and threw to first base. It looked like the game’s final out, but Morneau missed the ball.

The reason? The ball went right through the webbing of Morneau’s glove. He had to get another one from the dugout to finish the inning.

Were it not for the broken glove, Twins relievers would have turned in four perfect innings. Brian Bass pitched a 1-2-3 sixth and seventh, Craig Breslow did the same in the eighth, and Boof Bonser was headed there in the ninth.

It was funny at the end, as a throng of Twins fans were crowding the front rows in a mostly empty stadium, yelling, “Boooooooooof!”

On Thursday, the Twins have a chance to move into first place.

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