When right-hander Michael King dramatically emerged from the bullpen in a darkened Petco Park to pitch in the eighth inning of Game 3 just two days after he made a five-inning start in Game 2, the San Diego Padres' desperate determination to extend their season was clear.
The relentless Milwaukee Brewers are making that job awfully difficult — but after three scintillating, one-run playoff games packed with pressure moments, extraordinary plays and hero turns in this NL Division Series, the Padres are still fighting for at least another day.
Jake Cronenworth hit a tiebreaking homer, King pitched the final two innings on one day of rest and the Padres avoided playoff elimination with a 4-3 victory Tuesday night, trimming Milwaukee's lead in the best-of-five series to 2-1.
“It feels like we've played three straight games against the Brewers like that,” San Diego manager Craig Stammen said. “We finally were able to come out on the right end of things in this one. A lot of big effort from a lot of guys during the game to get us to the final score.”
Xander Bogaerts scored San Diego's fourth run on a hustle play in the sixth and then capped his team's stellar defensive performance with a game-ending double play at shortstop for the Padres, who hung on in a nail-biter over the MLB-best Brewers. This is the first playoff series since the 2021 National League Championship Series to begin with three straight one-run decisions.
“Can’t do much about the first two games, but all three games have been really good baseball,” Bogaerts said. “Once tomorrow comes, let’s go for it, but right now let’s enjoy this one, because this was a really good one.”
Game 4 is Wednesday night at Petco Park. If necessary, Game 5 will be back in Milwaukee on Friday.
Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado drove in early runs for the Padres, but their bullpen didn’t have star closer Mason Miller, who went on the paternity list about 45 minutes before the first pitch. San Diego also didn't have top setup man Adrian Morejon, who has shoulder “stickiness,” according to Stammen.
So despite pitching 12 innings in two starts over the previous seven days, King stepped up and finished it off — but only after a thrilling ninth.
King retired four of his first five batters before walking William Contreras and Brice Turang. Christian Yelich then cracked a 107 mph line drive up the middle, where Bogaerts went down to his knees to field it on a short hop and scampered to touch second base before throwing out Yelich at first to end it.
“I know that I have bullets in my arm that I don’t want to save,” King said. “If you’re in an elimination game, you want everybody to be all in on it, and ... we have a bunch of dogs down there that are all in.”
King — who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of the Wild Card Series opener against the Chicago Cubs a week ago — earned his first save since 2023, his first in the postseason and his first for the Padres.
San Diego had won 19 of 22 and swept the Cubs before losing two straight heartbreakers in Milwaukee last weekend.
Brewers come up short
Contreras homered and had three hits for the Brewers, who lost their 12th consecutive postseason road game dating to the 2018 NLCS.
Yelich even got his first playoff RBI since 2018 with a seventh-inning single, but Milwaukee fell behind early and never led, leaving 11 runners on base.
“That’s part of baseball,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “When you’re facing a good team with a good pitching staff, that’s part of it. We didn’t get the big hit at the big time, but do you fault Yelly for hitting one 107 there and Bogaerts making a great play? They've got a great team, and they played great defense tonight.”
Back-and-forth game
Neither starter excelled on a tense, uncommonly hot October night in downtown San Diego. Nick Pivetta yielded two runs and five hits while pitching into the fifth for the Padres, and Dustin May got pulled abruptly with a 1-0 count on Bogaerts and a runner aboard in the fourth.
Cooper Pratt tied it for Milwaukee right after Pivetta’s exit when left fielder Dustin Harris couldn’t throw him out on Jackson Chourio’s 242-foot sacrifice fly. It was the fifth RBI of the series for the 22-year-old Chourio and his 16th in 15 career postseason games, already tying Ryan Braun for the franchise record.
Cronenworth lined JoJo Romero’s first pitch of the fifth over the wall in right for only his second hit this postseason.
Bogaerts likely saved at least one run in the fifth when he dived to keep Contreras' single in the infield with two runners on.
Bogaerts then singled in the sixth, advanced on a wild pitch and scored when Pratt bounced his throw from shortstop for an error after Miguel Andujar’s broken bat came flying toward him along with the grounder.
Yelich singled home Contreras for his first playoff RBI since he homered in Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS against the Dodgers — a span of 87 plate appearances over 19 games.
Up next
Walker Buehler will start Game 4 for the Padres after making 32 starts in a resurgent season for the former Dodgers star. The Brewers hadn't announced a starting pitcher, but Robert Gasser, Shane Drohan and Chad Patrick are all available after starting a combined 45 games this season.
A previous version of this story corrected that King started Game 2, not Game 1.
