Jake Cronenworth hit a tie-breaking homer in the fifth inning and Michael King registered a six-out save as the San Diego Padres staved off elimination with a 4-3 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night in Game 3 of the National League Division Series.
Cronenworth led off the bottom of the fifth by jumping on a first-pitch sweeper by JoJo Romero (0-1) and sending it over the wall to give the Padres a 3-2 advantage.
After Padres star closer Mason Miller went on the paternity list prior to the game, King was called on to protect a 4-3 lead two days after throwing 72 pitches as the Game 2 starter. The right-hander gave up one hit and walked two to record the save.
“I made myself available on Sunday, confirmed it with (manager Craig) Stammen today,” King said after the win. “I knew that there was a chance it was going to be late in the game because of Mason’s wife, but six outs to end the game is six outs to end the game. I wasn’t as crisp as I’d like to be, but I’m very happy for a Game 4.”
William Contreras went 3-for-4 with a walk and a homer and Christian Yelich snapped his 19-game postseason streak without an RBI for the Brewers. Yelich and Cooper Pratt each had two hits.
Game 4 of the best-of-five series is Wednesday night in San Diego.
“We used a lot of energy today, and we’ve got to bring that same energy tomorrow also. It’s going to be another fight just like the first three games, and I don’t think I expect anything different,” Stammen said. “The resilience we showed today, the stick-to-itativeness, the keep bouncing back, all the adjectives you can use for that, this team showed it all year, and they showed it especially again tonight. We’re going to have to do it again tomorrow.”
Contreras and Brice Turang walked against King with one out in the ninth before Yelich hit a bullet that short-hopped into the glove of Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who touched second and threw to first for the game-ending double play.
“We didn’t get the big hit at the big time, but do you fault Yelly for hitting one 107 there and Bogaerts making a great play? They got a great team, and they played great defense tonight. They really did,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.
The Brewers lost their 12th consecutive road playoff game.
“I really enjoy them. I enjoy the road losses. They feel good. Does it wear on me?” Murphy quipped. “That’s a great point to bring up. It’s tough to win on the road in playoff situations obviously. We’ve done a pretty good job at home, I’d say, but you’re right. It’s never fun.”
Left-hander Yuki Matsui (1-0) was credited with the win after retiring three batters over the fifth and sixth innings.
In the bottom of the sixth, Bogaerts singled with two outs against right-hander Antonio Senzatela. Left-hander DL Hall entered and threw a wild pitch to move Bogaerts to second.
Pinch hitter Miguel Andujar hit a broken-bat bouncer to shortstop that went between the legs of a leaping Bogaerts. Shortstop Pratt seemed slightly distracted and his ensuing throw to first bounced in front of Jake Bauers and caromed away a few feet as Bogaerts came around to score.
In the seventh, Contreras stroked a two-out single off Bradgley Rodriguez and Turang followed with a single. Yelich then delivered an RBI single to bring the Brewers within 4-3, his first RBI since Game 7 of the 2018 NL Championship against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Garrett Mitchell then struck out to end the inning.
San Diego scored twice in the third against Brewers starter Dustin May, who allowed two runs, three hits, two walks and struck out three in three-plus innings.
Samad Taylor stroked a leadoff single, stole second and was sacrificed to third by Cronenworth. Taylor scored when Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a tapper to shortstop and was thrown out at first.
Jackson Merrill followed with a single and stole second before Manny Machado delivered a run-scoring single to give the Padres a 2-0 lead.
The Brewers got on the board in the fourth when Contreras smacked a leadoff homer to left off Nick Pivetta. It was Contreras’ second homer of the series.
Milwaukee started the fifth with back-to-back singles by Pratt and Sal Frelick. Joey Ortiz then laid down a bunt to move the runners up.
Jason Adam replaced Pivetta and induced Jackson Chourio to hit a fly ball to shallow left. Pratt beat Dustin Harris’ throw to knot the score at 2.
Pivetta gave up two runs and five hits over 4 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out four and walked none.
–Field Level Media
