The Padres face a winner-take-all Game 5 after a brief start to the cease-fire

SAN DIEGO — When the Padres approached Dylan Seaz on Monday with the idea of ​​starting Game 4 of the National League Division Series on short rest, Seaz made it clear he was all for it. He had one request though.

“I told them,” Cease said Tuesday night, “I want to treat it like a normal start.”

His choice, obviously, was not the Padres' choice. All 10 batters were retired in San Diego's 8-0 loss to the Dodgers at Petco Park on Wednesday night. Quickly following the hook, the Padres' relief corps unraveled and San Diego came out on the wrong end of the battle between the two bullpens.

47,773 fans at Petco Park — a ballpark attendance record — prepared for another Game 4 party in the Gaslamp. In 2022, San Diego won Games 2, 3 and 4 to eliminate LA in the NLDS. But if the Padres are going to slay the Dragon this time, they're going to have to do it the hard way

They head north on Interstate 5 for a decisive Game 5 at Dodger Stadium on Friday night. Yu Darvish gets the ball.

“I mean, listen, I'm already excited for Friday,” Padres manager Mike Shields said. “How fun would that be? A missed opportunity, a chance to close — [we] Did not proceed. Play Game 5. Winner take it.

Before that, the Padres need to rest and reset their bullpen. They'll also have days to grapple with pitching decisions here.

Cease has never started his career with three days' rest. He allowed a solo home run to Mookie Betts in the top of the first inning — Bates' second first-inning homer in as many games. But otherwise, Siege worked through the frame, touching 99-100 mph.

“I liked how the ball was coming out of my hands,” Cease said. “I didn't really feel like I shot myself in the foot too much, which I felt like I was doing. I felt good there.”

But in the second, Siege was in serious trouble. Down the batting order, Gavin Lux walked, Kike Hernandez singled and Chris Taylor struck out, bringing Shohei Ohtani to the plate with two outs.

By then, reliever Brian Hoying was getting loose. Notably, Adrian Morzon — or any other Padres lefty — was not. The Padres were poised to break the deadlock in the second inning. But they gave him a chance to stay out of trouble by facing Ohtani — instead of using one of those lefties.

The decision was overturned. Ohtani laced an RBI single through the right side, and the Dodgers went up 2-0.

“Ohtani wanted to see where the at-bat went,” Shields said. “He found a hole. There's always a way of thinking, 'I could do this, I could do that.' But, no, I felt good about it.

“Also, we've got a right with Hoing, who is a ground-ball guy. We prefer to have a lefty to go with Ohtani. We were a guy [Cease] 100 throw, and [Ohtani] Swing on him.”

Armistice Day has passed, but the Dodgers offense has not. Betts singled off Hoeing. Will Smith started the two-run blast an inning later.

For the first time all month, Petco Park is quiet. The Padres' offense, adept at mounting comebacks this season, didn't give that home crowd a reason to come back to life.

“We just couldn't get anything together,” shortstop Xander Bogaerts said. “It's something a little unusual with our offense and our ability. Some nights, you have nights like that. It's not the best [time] But we have one more game in the playoffs and we're definitely looking forward to that.”

In some ways, the pitches that most affected the Game 4 outcome were those of Cease or Hoying—or anyone else who didn't throw on the mound in brown pinstripes Wednesday night. They were thrown a week ago.

On October 2 facing the Braves in Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series, Joe Musgrove felt something in his right elbow in the top of the fourth inning. He threw two more curveballs — the two slowest of his career — and it was clear his night was over. His season, it turned out, was over, too.

The Padres punched their ticket to the NLDS that night. But that task was always going to be a bit bigger without Musgrove to start Game 4. With wins in Games 2 and 3, the Padres bought themselves some cushion. A loss in Game 4 wouldn't be debilitating.

But it made up for a bus ride they hadn't planned to take, with a hostile reception awaiting them on Friday.