Padres hold off Braves' comeback, earn another date with rival Dodgers in NLDS

For the third time in five years, the San Diego Padres are off to the National League Division Series, and they will see an all-too-familiar foe.

The Padres will square off with NL West rival Los Angeles Dodgers after sweeping the Atlanta Braves in the wild card round.

San Diego earned a 5-4 win on Wednesday night over the Braves, whose comeback was too little but too late.

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Unlike the first game, it was Atlanta who got the scoring started, as Marcell Ozuna got a sacrifice fly to score Michael Harris II, who led the game off with a double. But, San Diego lit up the scoreboard in the second.

Max Fried retired the first two batters of the inning, but a Kyle Higashioka homer tied the game. That was the first of six straight two-out hits, with the latter two being a two-run double by Manny Machado, and a two-run triple by Jackson Merrill.

It was the only inning that San Diego scored, but it worked out just fine.

Jorge Soler hit a solo homer in the fifth, and Harris hit one over the center field wall for a two-run shot in the eighth, but Robert Suarez retired the side in order in the ninth to get the save and start the party in San Diego. Upon the final out being made, chants of "Beat LA" almost immediately rang out.

ASTROS STAR POSTS CRYPTIC 3-WORD COMMENT AFTER POSSIBLE LAST GAME WITH HOUSTON

Perhaps fatigue hit the Braves, who had to play in a doubleheader on Monday in Atlanta to decide their postseason fate, then fly out west to take on one of the hottest teams in baseball. It was tough luck for Atlanta all year long, again dealing with injuries (including another torn ACL to reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr.), and it seems like it finally caught up to them.

Not only do the Padres and Dodgers face off 13 times a year (it used to be nearly 20 before MLB decided to have every team face each other throughout the season), but the Dodgers and Padres have recent October history.

The two teams faced off in both the 2020 and 2022 NLDS. The Dodgers swept an up-and-coming San Diego team the first time, en route to their World Series victory, but San Diego won in four two years ago.

If the regular season was any sort of foreshadowing, it's good news for San Diego, as they won the season series, 8-5.

Game 1 will be Saturday at 8:38 p.m. ET at Dodger Stadium.

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Brewers catapulted by home runs as Mets bullpen squanders late lead

The New York Mets were six outs away from advancing to the National League Division Series, but nothing ever comes easy for the Mets, it seems.

Phil Maton allowed both the game-tying and game-winning home runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Milwaukee Brewers a 5-3 win and send their wild card series into a decisive Game 3.

The Mets held a 3-2 lead going into the eighth inning, but lead-off hitter Jackson Chourio, who likely could be the National League Rookie of the Year, blasted the first pitch of the frame over the right field wall to tie the game for his second homer of the night.

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With a lack of bullpen options, Maton remained in the game, but four batters later, Garrett Mitchell, who had pinch-run for Gary Sanchez prior, belted a two-run shot of his own to give Milwaukee the lead.

New York scored one in the first and two in the second, but were blanked in the final seven innings. With the bases loaded in the sixth inning, Jose Iglesias struck out, proving to be costly later on. The first six batters in the Mets' lineup combined to go 4-for-21.

The Milwaukee relievers, though, combined to toss 5.1 innings of scoreless ball after Frankie Montas went just 3.2 frames, facing the Mets lineup just twice.

ASTROS STAR POSTS CRYPTIC 3-WORD COMMENT AFTER POSSIBLE LAST GAME WITH HOUSTON

New York will have Jose Quintana (10-10, 3.75 ERA) starting in Game 3 while Milwaukee will go with Tobias Myers (9-6, 3.00 ERA). 

A win for New York would put them in the NLDS for the first time since they won the pennant in 2015 — Milwaukee last made it in 2021.

The winner of Thursday’s game, which figures to be in primetime as all the other wild card series ended in two games on Wednesday, will face the NL East champ Philadelphia Phillies, who are the No. 2 seed in the National League.

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