This time there was something different.
This time, the ball went off the glove of Jurickson Profar. This time, the Dodgers came back.
But this time also got the same result.
Because the padres remained the same.
Jake Cronenworth said: “That’s who we were. “I think it’s ingrained in our DNA. Now we are 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 done,” Manny Machado said. “..we have to go out there and compete. It’s not going to be easy. It’s not easy. Look what we did today.”
The Padres held on after an early offensive outburst as a bolstered bullpen stalled late at the trade deadline, and they were close to being a workhorse as they finished the game.
“People talk about our bullpen, how they’re lights out,” Fernando Tadis Jr. said. “They certainly showed up today, and they showed why they’re the best in baseball right now.”
It was Tadis who scored six runs in the second inning to put the Padres up 6-1 before Teoscar Hernandez got the Dodgers up 6-5 with a grand slam in the third.
Neither team scored again.
Jeremiah Estrada finished sixth, and Jason Adam followed in seventh.
Left-hander Tanner Scott started the third inning, striking out Shohei Ohtani for the fourth time in five meetings over the past two weeks. Mookie Betts hit a fly ball to center field before Freddie Freeman singled up the middle.
That got Schilt out and Robert Suarez popped out to first baseman Luis Ares to face Hernandez.
Suarez struck out Max Muncie, hit Will Smith on a groundout and struck out Gavin Lucks for the Padres’ second straight win.
“What a game, man,” Xander Bogaerts said. “I mean, 6-1, Teoskar had a great swing, 6-5. It’s going to be. You know, nobody would have thought it was going to be the way it was after that offense. … The bullpen kept that game in there. It’s an unbelievable job.
The first 2½ innings were so wild, and the game so full of meaning and tension, that the drama of the previous three days seemed a distant memory.
During the pregame introductions, the crowd of 47,774 inside Petco Park booed Dodgers manager Dave Roberts as loud as a man taunted the building. Roberts accused Machado of throwing a baseball at him during Game 2.
The memory still lingered of Sunday’s game, in which the seventh inning was delayed after some in the crowd threw objects near Padres players at Dodger Stadium. There was enough concern about what would happen in Game 3 that Padres CEO Eric Grubner sent an email to ticket holders on Monday.
Much of the talk before the game was about Sunday’s events and what was said afterward.
A frenzied start thrusts everyone into the present.
The frenzy began with a near-impossible repeat of a play from Game 2, with the opposite result.
After Padres starter Michael King struck out Shohei Ohtani to start the game, Mookie Betts launched a full-count sweeper into left field. Proffer ran back, jumped over the short wall in the corner, reached out, caromed the ball off the tip of his glove and fell for a home run.
In the first inning Sunday, Betts had crossed second base and was excited about an almost identical drive to left field in the first inning of Game 2, only to learn that Proffer made the catch with his glove practically outstretched at second.
Betts thought the same thing happened again on Tuesday, and he literally left the dirt and headed back to the dugout on the grass. The umpire finally signaled that it was a home run, and Betts resumed his jog around the bases.
Walker Buehler retired the Padres in the first inning before King worked a seven-pitch top in the second.
Machado opened the bottom half of the inning with a single, and the Dodgers melted away in no time.
Jackson Merrill sent a ground ball to first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose throw bounced off Machado’s shoulder and rolled into left field. Machado sprinted to third base, giving the Padres runners on the corners. Machado intentionally hit the ball on the grass’s edge, which is legal, as a runner is allowed to make his own running path until a throw is made, and Machado was moving toward the bag when he was hit.
“If he hadn’t made that play, this rally wouldn’t have started,” Tadis said. “That’s how big and how big it is for us.”
Boggaerts followed with a grounder to shortstop Miguel Rojas, who hesitated to throw to second baseman Max Muncie, who clearly assumed Rojas would take two steps and touch the bag himself. By the time Rojas did so, Merrill was safely in and Bogaerts beat the next throw to first. Meanwhile, Machado scored.
“Obviously it was a play with Freddie and we couldn’t get the lead runner on the ground ball to Mickey,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We just couldn’t get Merrill there at second base. And it keeps the innings under pressure. … When you give a good team extra outs, it’s hard to throw zeroes.
David Peralta then hit a double into first base and into the right-field corner, scoring both runners. Cronenworth hit a ball to Rojas in the hole and moved Peralta to third base. Peralta scored on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Higashioka that made it 4-1 before Luis Ares grounded out to second.
Tadis sent an 0-2 fastball 396 feet to left-center field to make it 6-1.
The roar of the largest crowd ever assembled at Petco Park could be heard in the far reaches of downtown as Tattis’ fourth home run of the postseason hit the ribbon scoreboard in front of the second deck.
“I saw a display of our team identity,” Schildt said. “A lot of what we’re talking about is the offensive engine. … The effort level and the base running was good. And hitting two strikes was good. … It’s a big part of our identity and game. A big six spot.”
The Padres ran away to a 10-2 victory in Game 2, but the impression that the Dodgers were wilting under the weight of their past postseason losses was quickly dispelled.
Rojas, Ohtani and Betts opened the fifth inning with singles and loaded the bases with no outs.
A line drive to left field prevented pinch-runner Andy Page, who replaced Rojas, from scoring.
But after getting up 0-2 on Hernandez against Betts, King sent a sweeper to the same spot he had sent to Betts. Hernandez hit a grand slam off the wall in center field to pull the Dodgers within one.
They didn’t come close, and now they’re one loss away from having to make the long drive up Interstate 5, ending their season sooner than expected.
The Padres could advance to their second NLCS in three years with another win.
“It’s good to get two,” Schildt said. “But it doesn’t matter until we get three.”
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