And you can read Jeff Sander\u2019s story (here<\/a>)\u00a0about Michael King pitching the final two innings for the save in a game in which the Padres were without Mason Miller because his first child was being born and Adrian Morej\u00f3n because his shoulder was sore.<\/p>\n King deserved every bit of the praise he got for coming back two days after his start in Game 2 to throw 40 pitches.<\/p>\n \u201cThat guy\u2019s a psycho,\u201d Padres bullpen coach Ben Fritz said. \u201cIn a beautiful way.\u201d<\/p>\n There is no doubt that if the Padres win the next two games and advance to the NL Championship Series, King will almost certainly have pitched again in Game 5, and he will be remembered as an all-time postseason great for the Padres.<\/p>\n The Padres have been to the postseason all three years he has been with the club, and he has a 2.00 ERA in six playoff appearances. He and Kevin Brown are the only Padres pitchers to have ever thrown at least seven shutout innings in two postseason games.<\/p>\n And what he did in volunteering immediately after Game 2 to pitch again in Game 3 \u2014 and then getting himself ready to do so \u2014 is the stuff of legend.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable him being available for that,\u201d Xander Bogaerts said.<\/p>\n But this game was also saved in the first inning and then again in the third when Jackson Merrill ran a long way to make two lunging catches.<\/p>\n The first of those came five pitches into the game when Brewers leadoff batter Jackson Chourio drove a ball to the left-field gap that Merrill ran 93 feet at a top speed of 30.2 feet per second to catch on the warning track with a grab before sliding on his knees.<\/p>\n Jackson Merrill robs Jackson Chourio with a superb grab! pic.twitter.com\/527KXYTVDb<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLB (@MLB) October 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt changes the game,\u201d Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. \u201cYou lead off the game \u2026 gets hit in the gap. \u2026 That\u2019s a long -ardage catch. And that kind of stands you up a bit. Instead of a man on second, nobody out, you\u2019ve got a different situation.\u201d<\/p>\n That does not capture just how big the play was.<\/p>\n Teams score better than 60% of the time they get a runner on second base with no outs. The Padres falling behind in an elimination game and Chourio, who ended Game 2 with a two-run single, starting Game 3 with a double could possibly have set the game on an entirely different course.<\/p>\n \u201cSetting the tone,\u201d Manny Machado said of the catch.<\/p>\n In the third inning, Merrill did almost the same thing by tracking down a Sal Frelick drive to the gap in right-center field. For that lunging catch, that also ended with him sliding on his knees, Merrill ran 73 feet and reached a top speed of 29.4 feet per second.<\/p>\n \u201cWow,\u201d Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. \u201cHe made two great ones.\u201d<\/p>\n That is not all Murphy said:<\/p>\n Jackson Merrill is balling out defensively tonight! Two gems in three innings! pic.twitter.com\/XfthnU2Bis<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cProbably, in my opinion, the two biggest plays of the game, honestly, defensively \u2014 maybe outside the double play at the end by Xander,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cThose two fall, who knows what type of momentum they get from the beginning of the game and how that momentum is dictated from there.\u201d<\/p>\n The game-ending double play by Bogaerts was plenty nice, and it was important coming when it did. But the research and development department and infield coaches Ryan Goins and Nick Punto get some credit for positioning Bogaerts where he was too. If he was not almost exactly where he was, he might not have gotten Christian Yelich\u2019s 107 mph grounder, and he would not have had such a sure path to a double play.<\/p>\n Xander Bogaerts turns the double play, Michael King locks down the save, and the @Padres<\/a> live to see Game 4! pic.twitter.com\/vYXcWkxjJ3<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLB (@MLB) October 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n And the ninth inning might not have mattered had Merrill not done what he did in the first and third innings.<\/p>\n \u201cThose balls land,\u201d Machado said, \u201cit\u2019s a different story.\u201d<\/p>\n What now?<\/p>\n Walker Buehler, who allowed the Brewers a run on three hits over six innings in August, will start tonight.<\/p>\n When Buehler is finished, the Padres will do what they did in Game 3.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew we were going to have to rely on our whole pitching staff this postseason,\u201d Stammen said last night. \u201cAnd this was the first day of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, things are about to change.<\/p>\n The Padres have used just eight of their 11 pitchers in this series, and that includes their three starting pitchers. But they are almost certainly going to have to trust some different guys tonight.<\/p>\n Yuki Matsui and Bradgley Rodriguez have pitched in all three NLDS games and worked 3\u2153 innings apiece.<\/p>\n The Padres expect Miller back tonight. As I wrote before the game (here), he had been hoping his wife would give birth while the Padres were home so he could return to the team as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n Depending on who was asked and whether they were speaking for attribution, there were varying levels of optimism that Morej\u00f3n will be ready by tonight.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s definitely a chance,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see. We\u2019ve got to evaluate him tomorrow like we did today and put him in a safe space to be able to pitch. We don\u2019t want to put him out there if he\u2019s compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n Morej\u00f3n, who threw 31 pitches over two innings in Game 1 on Saturday, tested his arm by throwing off the mound yesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cStill feeling a little stickiness in the shoulder,\u201d Stammen said after the game. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to work through it. We\u2019re doing everything we can to get him ready. We\u2019ll see his status tomorrow. He was definitely feeling a little bit better today but just didn\u2019t feel like he could go.\u201d<\/p>\n And the Brewers<\/p>\n We should always be careful when thinking we know more than the team in question, since they have all the information and we have relatively little.<\/p>\n But it would seem like overthinking for the Brewers to start anyone but Robert Gasser, who had a 1.67 ERA over 32\u2153 innings in his final six games (five starts) of the regular season.<\/p>\n They have leaned heavily on their bullpen in the series as well. But Abner Uribe is the only pitcher to have thrown all three games. It is the playoffs, so Antonio Senzatela (31 pitches) and DL Hall (29 pitches) can\u2019t be ruled out tonight.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, we\u2019ve got to read and react,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cThis is playoff baseball, you know what I mean? We\u2019ve just got to kind of regroup here and see where everybody\u2019s at. \u2026 We\u2019ve got some used-up guys, but we\u2019ll have some available arms tomorrow for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Big X<\/p>\n First, Bogaerts prevented a go-ahead run. Then, he scored what ended up being the deciding run.<\/p>\n The double play Bogaerts turned to end the game was not his best play of the night.<\/p>\n That was his diving stop on the grass in the hole that kept William Contreras\u2019 single from getting through and scoring Frelick. That would have given the Brewers a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning.<\/p>\n Xander Bogaerts saves a run from scoring#padres<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Ai5IfSifKT<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Padres Central (@PadresCentral_) October 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Instead, with the bases loaded, Yuki Matsui relieved Jason Adam and ended the inning on a fielder\u2019s choice grounder.<\/p>\n \u201cI firmly believe the diving play probably was the momentum shift during the game,\u201d Bogaerts said. \u201cI mean, if that ball goes by, we\u2019re losing by a run now, and they still can hit, dugout going crazy for them. Our dugout is not going crazy, you know. We\u2019re going silent, so the crowd gets out of the game right there. And now we got to come back from behind. And they probably have a different strategy with the bullpen. As soon as the ball was hit, I didn\u2019t even think I had a chance. And the more I kept going, I just dove, and it went in the glove. I was pretty impressed that it hit the glove.\u201d<\/p>\n Bogaerts made another astute play in the same area while running the bases in the sixth inning.<\/p>\n After reaching on a two-out single, Bogaerts went to second on a wild pitch. And when pinch-hitter Miguel Andujar bounced a broken-bat grounder to the left side, Bogaerts slowed and then leaped over the ball on his way to third base.<\/p>\n Brewers Shortstop Cooper Pratt fielded the ball cleanly but then short-hopped his throw to first baseman Jake Bauers. The ball did not get far from Bauers, but it was far enough and Boagerts revved up quickly enough after slowing around third base.<\/p>\n He was halfway home by the time Bauers picked up the ball, and he slid across the plate without a tag attempt.<\/p>\n \u201cHad a good view on the ball, and as I tried to avoid the ball, like out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bat coming, and I tried to move from that,\u201d Bogaerts said. \u201cAnd quickly I had to focus back to \u2014 the ball goes by. \u2026 The Brewers, they always fight to come back. They score runs late, and any extra run would have been huge. I didn\u2019t expect the shortstop to throw it bad, but if he did, I mean I was pretty much ready to go, because I know how much one more run is. And the next inning, they end up scoring one right away. I mean, they just keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n Xander Bogaerts comes around to score on a wacky play! pic.twitter.com\/AiU8yOw8VO<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLB (@MLB) October 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Getting in a zone?<\/p>\n Jake Cronenworth had one of the biggest hits in Padres postseason history \u2014 the two-run single in the rain during the seventh inning that decided Game 4 of the 2022 NL Division Series against the Dodgers.<\/p>\n Arguably, Steve Garvey\u2019s walk-off home run in Game 4 of the 1984 NLCS was the only more monumental playoff hit by a Padres player.<\/p>\n But Cronenworth had not done a whole lot in the postseason since then and had not done much in these playoffs. He entered last night 1-for-27 in his previous eight playoff games, 1-for-13 this postseason and 0-for-7 in this series.<\/p>\n But he laid down a sacrifice bunt that helped the Padres to the game\u2019s first run in the third inning. And after the Brewers had tied the game 2-2 in the fourth, he led off the fifth inning with a tie-breaking home run off left-hander JoJo Romero.<\/p>\n \u201cJake has a propensity to have some big hits in the playoffs,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cTonight was a really big one also, big home run, left on left. You\u2019re not expecting that from him in that spot, but he got a good plan from the hitting coach, stuck with it, and was able to put one into the Crone Zone. One swing like that can unlock somebody, getting them going, getting them hot. Jake\u2019s a streaky hitter. Hopefully he goes on a hot streak here.\u201d<\/p>\n Cronenworth also singled in the seventh inning to finish with two of the Padres\u2019 six hits.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been having good at-bats,\u201d he said. \u201cIt happens when it happens. It doesn\u2019t happen when it doesn\u2019t. It\u2019s hard to get a hit in this game, especially with the arms that we\u2019re facing.\u201d<\/p>\n Keep Their Heads Ringin’ pic.twitter.com\/La85pegAE9<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 San Diego Padres (@Padres) October 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Better?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/kinginpost.png\")
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