This time was something else.
This time, the ball went off Jurickson Profar’s glove. This time, the Dodgers came back.
This time, however, had the same result.
Because the Padres stayed the same.
“That’s just who we’ve been,” Jake Cronenworth said. “I think it’s ingrained in our DNA. It’s who we are as a team now.”
The Padres beat the Dodgers 6-5 on Tuesday night and are one victory away from advancing to the National League Championship Series.
“Job’s not finished,” Manny Machado said. “We’ve got to go out there and compete. It’s not going to be easy. It hasn’t been easy. Look what we did today.”
The Padres held on after an early offensive outburst because of a late stand by the bullpen that was bolstered at the trade deadline, with the workhorse closer they have had all along finishing the game.
“People have been talking about our bullpen, how lights out they are,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “They definitely showed up today, and they showed why they’re one of the best in baseball right now.”
It was Tatis who capped a six-run second inning that put the Padres up 6-1 before Teoscar Hernández got the Dodgers to 6-5 with a grand slam in the third.
Neither team scored again.
Jeremiah Estrada worked a perfect sixth, and Jason Adam followed suit in the seventh.
Left-hander Tanner Scott began the third inning by striking out Shohei Ohtani for the fourth time in their five meetings over the past two weeks. Mookie Betts followed with a fly ball out to center field before Freddie Freeman singled up the middle.
That brought Shildt out and Robert Suarez in to face Hernandez, who popped out to first baseman Luis Arraez.
Suarez struck out Max Muncy, got Will Smith on a groundout and struck out Gavin Lux to secure the Padres’ second consecutive victory after a loss in the opener of the best-of-five series.
“What a game, man,” Xander Bogaerts said. “I mean, 6-1, Teoscar had a great swing, 6-5. And it stays that way. You know, probably no one thought it would have stayed that way after all that offense. … The bullpen kept that game right there. It’s an unbelievable job.”
During pregame introductions, most of the 47,774 crammed inside Petco Park booed Dodgers manager Dave Roberts as loudly as a person has ever been jeered in the building, after Roberts accused Machado of throwing a baseball at him during Game 2.
And there was still the memory from Sunday’s game, in which some in the crowd at Dodger Stadium had thrown objects on the field close to Padres players, causing a delay in the seventh inning. There was enough concern about what might happen in Game 3 that Padres CEO Erik Greupner sent an email to ticket holders on Monday imploring them to act appropriately.
Most of the talk before the game was about Sunday’s events and what had been said since.
A frenetic start jolted everyone into the present.
The craziness began with an almost impossible repeat of a play from Game 2, just with the opposite result.
After Padres starter Michael King began the game by striking out Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts sent a full-count sweeper to left field. Profar ran back and leaped over the short wall in the corner and reached out, only to have the ball carom off the tip of his glove and fall for a home run.
In the first inning Sunday, Betts was past second base and exulting on a nearly identical drive to left field in the first inning in Game 2 before learning Profar had made a catch with his glove extended practically into the second row.
Betts thought the same thing had happened again Tuesday, and he actually veered off the dirt and onto the grass headed back toward the dugout. Umpires finally signaled that it was a home run, and Betts resumed his jog around the bases.
Walker Buehler retired the Padres in order in the first inning before King worked a seven-pitch top of the second.
Machado began the bottom half of the inning with a single, and the Dodgers momentarily melted.
Jackson Merrill sent a ground ball to first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose throw hit Machado on the shoulder and rolled into left field. Machado ran to third base, giving the Padres runners at the corners. Machado was purposefully on the edge of the grass when the ball hit him, which is legal, as a runner is allowed to create his own running lane until a throw is made and Machado was moving back toward the bag when he was struck.
“This rally wouldn’t have started, probably, if he hadn’t made that play,” Tatis said. “That’s how huge and how big that was for us.”
Bogaerts followed with a grounder to shortstop Miguel Rojas, who hesitated as he looked to throw to second baseman Max Muncy, who clearly assumed Rojas would take a couple of steps and touch the bag himself. By the time Rojas did so, Merrill had slid in safely, and Bogaerts beat the ensuing throw to first. Meanwhile, Machado had scored.
“Obviously that play with Freddie and the ground ball to Miggy that we couldn’t get the lead runner,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We couldn’t get Merrill there at second base. And it just continues to stress the inning. … When you give a good team extra outs, it’s hard to throw up zeros.”
David Peralta then grounded a double just inside first base and into the right-field corner, scoring both runners. Cronenworth hit a ball to Rojas in the hole and reached on an infield single that moved Peralta to third base. Peralta scored on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Higashioka that made it 4-1 before Luis Arraez made the second out.
Tatis made it 6-1 by sending an 0-2 fastball a projected 396 feet to left-center field.
The roar from the biggest crowd ever assembled at Petco Park might have been heard in the far reaches of downtown when Tatis’ fourth home run of the postseason hit off the ribbon scoreboard fronting the second deck of seats.
“I saw our team identity on display,” Shildt said. “A lot of what we talk about — offensive machine. … The effort level and the baserunning was great. And the two-strike hitting was good. … It’s a lot of who our identity is and a big part of the game. A big six-spot.”
The Padres had run away for a 10-2 victory in Game 2, but any thought that the Dodgers had wilted under the weight of their past postseason failures was quickly wiped away.
Rojas, Ohtani, and Betts began the fifth inning with singles to load the bases with no outs.
A line drive to left field prevented pinch-runner Andy Pages, who had replaced Rojas, from scoring.
But after getting up 0-2 on Hernández, as he had against Betts, King sent a sweeper to a similar spot he had sent the fateful pitch to Betts. And Hernández hit a grand slam just beyond the wall in center field to pull the Dodgers to within one.
They got no closer, and now they are one loss away from having to make the long drive back up Interstate 5 with their season over sooner than expected.
The Padres can head to their second NLCS in three years with another victory.
“It’s good to get two,” Shildt said. “But it doesn’t matter until we get three.”
Originally Published: October 8, 2024 at 8:44 p.m.