For a moment with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and Fernando Tatis Jr. standing on first base, it looked like Manny Machado had connected on a game-tying two-run home run to center field. The swing was right. The sound was good. Machado had the lean and the crowd at Petco Park roared to life, but instead of the ball landing beyond the wall, it fell into the glove of Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell at the front of the wall and essentially ended the season for the San
Diego Padres who dropped Game 4 of the National League Division Series by the final score of 3-1.
There was a blend of storylines from playoffs past that came to life once again for San Diego. There just was not enough top line pitching to get the Padres over the top and the offense once again went missing as the Friars recorded just three hits in Game 4 of the NLDS. Worse yet, San Diego did not record a hit after the third inning when Tatis hit a laser to center field for a solo home run to lead off the inning. Three Milwaukee relievers combined to pitch five hitless innings and allowed just three walks with six strikeouts.
It was somewhat fitting that in the final game of the season, a must-win in front of the Friar Faithful on their home field, Tatis, Machado and Jackson Merrill were the only players to record a hit. Throughout the series and for much of the season the complaint had been the stars needed to star. The support guys had been a big part of the success for the Padres and on a night when none of those players, Ty France, Samad Taylor, Luis Campusano, etc. were able to do anything offensively, San Diego saw its season come to an end.
Padres manager Craig Stammen did what he could with the remaining arms he had. He used seven pitchers in the game with only starter Walker Buehler and Joe Musgrove pitching multiple innings. Buehler completed three-plus innings and allowed a run on three hits with two walks. Robbie Ray allowed a run on one hit with one walk in one inning of work while Bradgley Rodriguez and Yuki Matsui combined to work a scoreless inning. Jason Adam threw an inning and allowed a run on two hits and Mason Miller worked the seventh inning, allowing two hits and a walk with a strikeout. Musgrove took the mound in the eighth and ninth innings and kept the deficit at two runs without allowing a hit while recording two strikeouts.
Stammen won 91 games in his first year at the helm and guided the Padres to the NLDS where they were knocked out by a 103-win Brewers team. It is not the ending the Friars wanted, but it was a successful season and despite the disappointing outcome of the NLDS, the Padres proved they belong as one of the top teams in the NL.
Padres News:
- The Padres did not have much to give them hope after losing the first two games of the series to the Brewers, but Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball tried to highlight the finer points.
- Yuki Matsui has finally become the big league reliever A.J. Preller and the Padres thought he could be when he came over from Japan.
Baseball News:
- The Tampa Bay Rays swept the New York Yankees to reach the ALCS.
- The Los Angeles Dodgers topped the Atlanta Braves to reach the NLCS.
- The Cleveland Guardians staved off elimination with a win over the Chicago White Sox.
