The San Diego Padres broke up a no-hit bid from Tyler Glasnow and rallied for four runs across the sixth and seventh innings to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, clinching a franchise-record third consecutive playoff berth in what has been a turbulent first season under rookie manager Craig Stammen.
At 89-70, San Diego is heading to October for the fifth time in seven years, a stretch of sustained contention that has coincided with the emergence of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado as the faces of the franchise. Stammen, who took over this year after Mike Shildt departed, has steered a club that dealt with injuries all summer through a crowded National League Wild Card race to get here, and there was little doubt in the clubhouse afterward about what it meant.
Breaking Up a No-Hitter
For most of the night, the game belonged to Glasnow. The Dodgers right-hander struck out a season-high 11 batters and carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Ethan Salas and Tatis strung together back-to-back singles to end it. San Diego starter Nick Pivetta matched him zero for zero on the other side, working four and two-thirds scoreless innings on four hits and seven strikeouts before his pitch count climbed to 87 and Stammen turned to a bullpen that has carried the club down the stretch.
The Padres finally broke through in the seventh. Jackson Merrill led off with a double and Xander Bogaerts drew a walk to chase Glasnow from the game, and Austin Hays and Salas each singled in a run to make it 3-0 before Tatis added an RBI single of his own for a 4-0 cushion. Earlier in the week, Ty France had hit a career-high 21st home run against the Dodgers, part of a lineup that has found timely pop all September.
Los Angeles would not go quietly. The Dodgers, who had already locked up the NL West title and a first-round bye of their own, scored an unearned run in the eighth on a balk by reliever Adrian Morejon, then Shohei Ohtani ripped an RBI double off closer Mason Miller in the ninth to make it 4-2. Miller escaped with his 38th save, while Yuki Matsui picked up the win in relief of Pivetta.
What the Clinch Means
The victory keeps San Diego atop the crowded Wild Card chase, a game ahead of the Chicago Cubs and two ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Wild Card standings heading into the season's final weekend. A three-game series at Petco Park against the Arizona Diamondbacks will decide whether the Padres host the Wild Card round or hit the road, with the postseason set to begin next week.
Should the standings hold, San Diego would likely open the Wild Card round at home against Chicago, a rematch of last year's series, which the Cubs won two games to one. Tatis, for his part, finished Thursday's win 2 for 3 with an RBI, a walk and two stolen bases, extending an on-base streak that has stretched across much of September.
We're one, we're one. It's been that way for the whole year and we're going to keep it that way.
Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres shortstop
I was feeling nice. We're clinching!
Manny Machado, Padres third baseman
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts credited San Diego's staying power after the loss. "You can never count them out," Roberts said. "They're just too talented." The box score reflects a game that stayed tight into the ninth despite the lopsided run column and a Los Angeles staff that entered the night among the league's stingiest.
For a Padres franchise that went more than a decade without a postseason appearance before 2020, three straight trips to October under three different managers is now the new normal. Stammen's group still has unfinished business this weekend before finding out exactly where its next chapter begins.
