The Padres erased the drama, defeating the Dodgers in Game 3 of the NL Division Series
This time it was something else.
This time the ball went into the gloves of Jurickson Proffer. This time, the Dodgers came back.
This time, however, the result was the same.
Because the clergy remains the same.
“We were who we were,” Jake Cronenworth said. “I think it's ingrained in our DNA. We are who we are now as a team.”
The Padres beat the Dodgers 6-5 on Tuesday night and are one win away from advancing to the National League Championship Series.
“The job's not over,” Manny Machado said. “.. We have to go out there and compete. It's not going to be easy. It was not 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 as they finished the game.
“People are talking about our bullpen, how lights out they are,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “They certainly showed up today, and they showed why they're one of the best in baseball right now.”
Tatis capped a six-run second inning that gave the Padres a 6-1 lead, and Teoscar Hernandez hit a grand slam in the third to put the Dodgers up 6-5.
Neither team scored.
Jeremiah Estrada pitched a perfect sixth, and Jason Adam pitched a perfect seventh.
Left-hander Tanner Scott started the third inning by striking out Shohei Ohtani for the fourth time in their five meetings over the past two weeks. Freddie Freeman singled up the middle before Mookie Betts took a fly ball to center field.
That brought Shields and Robert Suarez to face Hernandez, who popped out to first baseman Luis Arez.
Suarez struck out Max Muncie, got Will Smith on a groundout and struck out Gavin Lux to seal the Padres' second straight win after losing the best-of-five series opener.
“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, maybe no one thought it would stay this way after all these crimes. … The bullpen put that game right there. It's an incredible job.”
The first 2½ innings were so wild, and the game so full of money and excitement, that the drama of the previous three days seemed a distant memory.
After Roberts accused Machado of throwing a baseball at him during Game 2, during pregame introductions, most of the 47,774 inside Petco Park booed Dodgers manager Dave Roberts as a man in the building.
And there were still memories of Sunday's game, where some in the Dodger Stadium crowd threw objects on the field at Padres players, causing a seventh-inning delay. There was enough concern about what might happen in Game 3 that Padres CEO Eric Grupner sent an email to ticket holders Monday urging them to act appropriately.
Much of the talk before the game was about what happened on Sunday and what has been said since.
A frantic start shocks everyone present.
The frenzy began with a near-impossible repeat of a play from Game 2, with the exact opposite result.
After Padres starter Michael King struck out Shohei Ohtani to start the game, Mookie Betts sent a full-count sweeper into left field. Proffer took a running back, leaping over the short wall in the corner, only to have the ball carom off the tip of his glove and fall for a home run.
In the first inning Sunday, Betts crossed second base and cheered on a nearly identical drive to left field in the first inning of Game 2 before learning Proffer made a catch with his glove practically stretched across the second row.
Bates thought the same thing happened again on Tuesday, and he actually kicked the dirt and headed back to the dugout on the grass. The umpires finally signaled that it was a home run, and Bates resumed his jog around the bases.
Walker Bueller retired the Padres in order in the first inning before King worked a seven-pitch top of the second.
Machado led off the bottom half of the inning with a single and the Dodgers instantly melted away.
Jackson Merrill sent a ground ball to first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose throw hit Machado in the shoulder and rolled into left field. Machado ran to third base, giving the Padres runners at the corners. Machado was intentionally on the edge of the grass when the ball hit him, which is legal, since a runner is allowed to create his own running lane until a throw is made, and Machado was moving toward the bag when he was hit.
“This rally wouldn't have started, probably, if he hadn't made that play,” Tatis said. “That's how huge and how big it was for us.”
Bogaerts followed with a grounder to shortstop Miguel Rojas, who hesitated to throw to second baseman Max Muncy, who clearly assumed Rojas would take a few steps forward and touch the bag himself. When Rojas did this, Merrill slid to safety and Bogaerts beat out the next throw to first. Meanwhile, Machado scored.
“Obviously the play with Freddie and the ground ball to Miggy that we couldn't get the lead runner on,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We couldn't get Merrill on second base. And it just continued to pressure the innings. … When you give a good team extra outs, it's hard to throw a blank.”
David Peralta then grounded a double just inside first base and into the right-field corner, scoring both runners. Cronenworth hit a ball in the hole to Rojas and reached on an infield single that moved Peralta to third base. Peralta scored on Kyle Higashioka's sacrifice fly that made it 4-1 before Luis Arraz grounded out to second.
Tatis sent an 0-2 fastball 396 feet into left-center field to make it 6-1.
The roar of the largest crowd ever to gather at Petco Park could be heard far downtown when Tattis' fourth home run of the postseason hit the ribbon scoreboard in front of the second deck of seats.
“I saw our team's identity on display,” Shields said. “A lot of what we talk about — offensive machines. … The effort level and baserunning was great. And the two-strike hitting was good too. … It's a lot of who we are and a big part of the game. A big six spot.”
The Padres ran away with a 10-2 win in Game 2, but the Dodgers' dry weight of past postseason failures was quickly erased.
Rojas, Ohtani and Betts started the fifth inning with singles with no outs.
A line drive to left field prevented pinch-runner Andy Pages, who had replaced Rojas, from scoring.
But after going 0-2 to Hernandez, as he did against Bates, King sent a sweeper to the same spot he sent the ill-fated pitch to Bates. And Hernandez hit a grand slam just off the center field wall to pull the Dodgers within one.
They never came close, and now they're one loss away from backing up the long drive down Interstate 5, ending their season sooner than expected.
The Padres can advance to their second NLCS in three years with one more win.
“It's good to get two,” Shildt said. “But it doesn't matter until we get three.”
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