Sheets' homer, the bullpen's night: Padres sweep the Cubs and head to Milwaukee
Gavin Sheets came off the bench to break open a 4-1 Game 2 win, the Padres bullpen threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings, and the two-game sweep of the Cubs sends San Diego to the National League Division Series against the 103-win Brewers.
SAN DIEGO: The Padres are going to Milwaukee. Gavin Sheets came off the bench in the fourth inning on Wednesday night and launched a two-run homer into the right-field seats, turning a tense 2-1 game into a 4-1 lead, and San Diego's bullpen did the rest in a 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs at a raucous Petco Park. The victory completed a two-game sweep of the best-of-three National League Wild Card Series.
The Padres struck first in the second inning. Ty France led off with a double inside the third-base line off Cubs starter Kevin Gausman, Jackson Merrill followed with an infield single and stole second, Xander Bogaerts grounded a single to right to score France, and 20-year-old Ethan Salas, the youngest catcher ever to start a major league postseason game, lifted a sacrifice fly to center to drive in Merrill for a 2-0 lead.
Chicago finally showed a pulse in the fourth. Seiya Suzuki singled with one out and Ian Happ walked, and Nico Hoerner's single to center scored Suzuki and ended the night of Padres starter Nick Pivetta after 3 1/3 innings. Padres manager Craig Stammen went straight to reliever Bradgley Rodriguez with runners on first and second. Rodriguez struck out Matt Shaw, hit Carson Kelly with a pitch to load the bases, and got Dansby Swanson to fly out to center, and Chicago's best chance of the night died there.
The swing
The Padres answered in the bottom half. Bogaerts' one-out double ended Gausman's night after 3 1/3 innings and three runs, and Sheets, pinch-hitting for Austin Hays, got under Daniel Palencia's 101 mph fastball and sent it into the right-field seats for a 4-1 lead. A crowd of 47,513 fans waving yellow towels finally got to exhale.
The vault
From there the bullpen slammed it shut. Rodriguez recorded five outs in his postseason debut for the win, Jason Adam worked a flawless sixth, Adrian Morejon tossed two scoreless innings, and Mason Miller struck out Ian Happ and pinch-hitter Michael Conforto around a Hoerner double to earn his first career playoff save. The relievers combined for 5 2/3 scoreless innings and allowed two hits.
The two-game silencing of MLB's highest-scoring offense was the story of the series. Chicago led the majors with 850 runs in the regular season but managed only one run in 18 postseason innings, its lone run of the series. Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman went a combined 0-for-15 with eight strikeouts in the series; Crow-Armstrong finished 0-for-7 with four strikeouts.
Milwaukee next
The reward is the ultimate test. The Padres travel to Milwaukee for a best-of-five National League Division Series against the Brewers, the National League's top seed, with Game 1 on Saturday. Milwaukee finished 103-59, the best record in baseball for the second consecutive year, and is expected to start 24-year-old ace Jacob Misiorowski in the opener. His 252 strikeouts led the majors this season and he carried a 0.80 WHIP into October; Logan Henderson is lined up for Game 2. The sweep also settled a score: one year ago, the Cubs sent the Padres home from Wrigley Field in this same round.
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