Mitchell's Wall-Climbing Robbery Seals It — Brewers Topple Padres, Punch NLCS Ticket
Garrett Mitchell speared a potential game-tying home run off Manny Machado's bat at the wall in the eighth inning, and Milwaukee held on for a 3-1 win at Petco Park, closing out a heavyweight NLDS that saw every game decided by two runs or fewer.
For four games, nobody could put the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers away. Game 1 turned on a fly ball that clanked off a cable hanging from the roof in Milwaukee. Game 2 ended on a line drive that landed a few inches past a diving infielder's glove. Game 3 went to the Padres to stave off elimination. And Game 4, on Wednesday night at Petco Park, came down to a leaping catch at the center-field wall.
That's where Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell robbed Manny Machado of a potential game-tying, season-saving home run in the eighth inning, preserving Milwaukee's 3-1 lead and sending the 103-win Brewers to the NLCS with a 3-1 series win. Fernando Tatis Jr.'s third-inning solo shot off Milwaukee starter Robert Gasser was the only run the Padres could scratch across all night.
A series decided by inches
San Diego had clawed back into the series with a 4-3 win in Game 3 at home — avoiding a sweep after dropping the first two games in Milwaukee — but couldn't finish the job in the rematch. According to MLB.com, it marked the first postseason series in 111 years in which no single game was decided by more than two runs.
"IT BURNS. THIS TEAM, WE FOUGHT ALL YEAR... IT STINGS RIGHT NOW, FOR SURE."
That's Machado afterward. Milwaukee got scoreless bullpen innings from Mason Miller, back from paternity leave, and Joe Musgrove to close it out, while closer-turned-reliever Adrian Morejon sat out for San Diego after coming up sore from his Game 1 outing. Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who watched his team survive a series stacked with near-misses in both directions, didn't pretend the margin was wide. "The Padres, they're a great team," Murphy said. "They could have won it all, but that's just the postseason. The ball doesn't bounce your way... Believe me, that team right there can beat anybody in baseball. I'm just grateful we got through."
San Diego's first baseman Ty France, whose own Game 1 drive famously struck a support cable and died in the outfield instead of clearing the fence, put it simply: "It was a heavyweight battle. They were the best team in baseball for a reason, and we went punch-for-punch with them."
The top-seeded Milwaukee Brewers now await the winner of the Dodgers-Braves NLDS, with the National League Championship Series set to open Sunday.