In the first game, the San Diego Padres defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were leading the NL West, 4-2 to guarantee their postseason position.
Tuesday night’s 4-2 victory against the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers helped the San Diego Padres guarantee a postseason position thanks to a game-ending triple play by Manny Machado.
With five games remaining in the regular season, Jake Cronenworth’s two-run home run early in the game secured the Padres at least a wild card in the National League. With two games remaining in this crucial series at Dodger Stadium, they are now only two games behind the Dodgers.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stated, “It’s really important just to get this lead back up to three.”
The Dodgers took a one-run lead in the ninth inning thanks to a strong ground ball hit by Miguel Rojas to Machado at third base. To conclude the game, the former Dodger stepped on the bag and executed a triple play.
Roberts remarked, “We’ve got to give Manny credit.” “What a play he put on.”
The Dodgers hit into two double plays earlier in the game.
The Dodgers contested the out call at second base, putting San Diego’s festivities on wait, but a replay review upheld the call.
About the conclusion, Roberts remarked, “It’s shocking.” “That is the least likely result.”
Second-placed Padres have won nine of their past ten games and four in a row. With an 8-3 record in their meetings, San Diego also has the tiebreaker over Los Angeles.
Machado declared, “We’re going to enjoy this game, enjoy the celebration, and enjoy tonight, but the job’s not finished yet.”
The Dodgers can still win the division with the magic number of four.
In front of 50,369 spectators, who helped to generate a playoff atmosphere for the first game of this vital three-game series, San Diego scored four runs with two outs. They yelled, “MVP! MVP!” at Shohei Ohtani and noisily jeered at Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr.
“With Ohtani in the on-deck circle, we turn a triple play to end the game against one of the best teams in baseball, how much better can we get in a tight spot?” stated Machado.
Before scoring three RBIs against the Padres’ fiercest rivals, including his 12th career home run against the Dodgers, Cronenworth had not generated any RBIs in September. He hadn’t scored an extra base hit in his previous 50 at-bats before to then.
Over five innings, Padres starter Michael King (13-9) gave up three hits and one unearned run. He walked two and struck out three hitters.
In the fourth inning, RBI singles by Xander Bogaerts and doubles by Cronenworth gave San Diego a 4-1 lead.
Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and Bogaerts made a throwing error at shortstop, allowing the Dodgers to score their first run in the inning. That was a franchise-high 95th extra-base hit of the season for him.
