MILWAUKEE \u2014 This will be difficult.<\/p>\n
After a crushing defeat, the Padres have to make a big lift.<\/p>\n
They now have to fight to get the National League Division Series back to American Family Field, the place where they just spent a devastating weekend.<\/p>\n
An out away from winning Game 2, the Padres lost Sunday when closer Mason Miller could not get the last of the six outs he was asked to deliver.<\/p>\n
After Miller loaded the bases on three walks, Jackson Chourio scorched a ground ball up the middle that got past a diving Jake Cronenworth and into center field to bring in two runs and give the Brewers a 4-3 victory \u2014 and a daunting lead of two games to none in the series that requires three victories on the Padres\u2019 part.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t do my job today,\u201d Miller said. \u201cSo instead of being here with a win and the series tied, we\u2019re in a hole. So it feels pretty bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jackson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SUT-L-padres-1005-042.jpg\")
Jackson Chourio of the Milwaukee Brewers has Gatorade poured on him by William Contreras (24) and Garrett Mitchell (5) after his game-winning two-run single in Sunday\u2019s National League Division Series win over the Padres. (K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
The Padres are in win-or-go-home mode for as long as they can make the NLDS last.<\/p>\n
The teams will play Game 3 at Petco Park on Tuesday night. And, if necessary, Game 4 would be there Wednesday.<\/p>\n
A team that felt like it was fighting from out of a corner for most of the season\u2019s final two months was saying all the right things about their resilience in a quiet clubhouse Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like that\u2019s kind of the mentality we\u2019ve been playing with all season,\u201d Ty France said. \u201cNot a lot of people expected us to be in this position. So for us to even be here, we\u2019ve proved a lot of people wrong. But I feel like there\u2019s still some more in the tank.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, they knew they had just lost in what was as close to a literal must-win situation as any non-elimination game can be.<\/p>\n
Teams that go up 2-0 in a best-of-five series have gone on to win the series 89% of the time (83 of 93) since MLB introduced the format in 1969.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot many teams have done it,\u201d Fernando Tatis Jr. said. \u201cSo there\u2019s a reason why it\u2019s so tough. \u2026 Obviously, we want it different. It\u2019s a tough situation right here. But we\u2019re going to battle out there and find a way to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Padres](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SUT-L-padres-1005-043.jpg\")
Padres catcher Freddy Fermin walks off the field as the Milwaukee Brewers celebrate a walk off single by Jackson Chourio in the ninth inning of Sunday\u2019s Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. (K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s kick to the midsection came a day after a stinging 3-2 loss.<\/p>\n
In Game 1, the Padres went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and were pretty sure France hit a ball that would have been a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning had it not hit a roof cable and dropped into Chourio\u2019s glove on the warning track.<\/p>\n
\u201cGot to win,\u201d France said. \u201cThere\u2019s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. We played two really good games, and it didn\u2019t go our way. But go back home, play each game like it\u2019s our last.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result Sunday was shocking, coming as it did against the pitcher who had made the Padres practically invincible in such situations.<\/p>\n
The Padres were 77-1 when leading after eight innings during the regular season. Miller had converted 38 of his 41 save opportunities and posted a 1.67 ERA, allowing a run in just 12 of his 66 appearances.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re always gonna feel good when Mason is on the mound,\u201d Tatis said.<\/p>\n
There were other things to look back at Sunday, including the fact that France\u2019s two RBI singles were the Padres\u2019 only hits in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position and they failed to convert more from the gifts the Brewers gave them.<\/p>\n
With help from a pair of costly errors by a team that does not make many of them, the Padres held a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.<\/p>\n
![\"Jake](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SUT-L-padres-1005-030.jpg\")
Jake Cronenworth walks back after an error in the seventh inning of Sunday\u2019s National League Division Series loss to the Brewers. (K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
An uncharacteristic error (actually two on the same play) by Cronenworth in that half-inning enabled the Brewers to cut the lead to 3-2.<\/p>\n
Another defensive mistake by the Brewers in the eighth did not end up costing them, as the Padres failed to convert after Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers did not cover the bag and Samad Taylor\u2019s sacrifice bunt attempt turned into a single and gave the Padres runners at first and second with no outs.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnable to quite punch through and put the game away a little bit there,\u201d Stammen said.<\/p>\n
The game began with both teams making a number of sterling plays to take away hits and with Padres starting pitcher Michael King even more dominant for a time than he had been in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series.<\/p>\n
King followed the longest no-hit bid in Padres postseason history with the second-longest.<\/p>\n
After allowing his first hit with one out in the seventh inning on Tuesday against the Cubs, he held the Brewers hitless for 4\u2154 innings Sunday.<\/p>\n
It was then that Milwaukee reeled off three consecutive hits and halved what had been a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n
![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SUT-L-padres-1005-mm-008.jpg\")
Michael King watches after Sal Frelick singled in the fifth inning of Game 2 of the National League Division Series at American Family Field on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
After being utterly dominant for the better part of five innings, King departed after hitting the first batter in the sixth inning.<\/p>\n
Yuki Matsui took over and got three straight outs before yielding a single to start the seventh. He then got an out on a fly ball Jackson Merrill caught at the wall, but Matsui\u2019s day finished with a walk.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez relieved Matsui and appeared to get out of the seventh on David Hamilton\u2019s grounder to Cronenworth at second base. The ball was hit softly enough and Hamilton is fast enough that Cronenworth rushed and bobbled the ball before getting off a wild throw.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably should have just killed the play,\u201d Cronenworth said. \u201cI probably didn\u2019t have a chance on him anyways.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bobble allowed Hamilton to reach base and Garrett Mitchell, who hit the leadoff single, to score. The bad throw got Hamilton to second base and Cooper Pratt, who had walked, to third before Rodriguez ended the inning with a groundout.<\/p>\n
While he later allowed that there was a possibility he would have had Rodriguez start the eighth if Matsui had been able to finish the seventh, Padres manager Craig Stammen said the Padres essentially planned to use Miller for six outs because Adrian Morej\u00f3n was unavailable a day after throwing 31 pitches over two innings. And they went to Miller because the Brewers\u2019 2-3-4 hitters were due up in the eighth.<\/p>\n
He got through those batters on 12 pitches and used just two pitches to record the first out in the ninth before his command disappeared.<\/p>\n