Padres secure top wild-card spot in Netherlands, will host playoff series after win over Diamondbacks – San Diego Union-Tribune

PHOENIX – The Padres are coming home.

They scored enough points early in Friday’s game and won enough over the course of the season to earn the right to host a playoff series.

“To be able to come home to (the fans) at Petco Park – the atmosphere, to me, is simply the best in baseball – is huge,” manager Mike Shildt said after a 5-3 win over the Diamondbacks and the Mets in the loss Milwaukee secured the Padres the first wild card spot.

Yu Darvish was charged with three runs in 5⅓ innings and picked up the win, his 203rd between Japan (93) and MLB (110). This means he has always been on a par with Hiroki Kuroda among a Japanese-born player.

The Padres’ victory was their 92nd of the season, tied with the 1984 team for the second-most wins in franchise history, behind only the 1998 team’s 98 wins. Those other two teams went to the World Series.

But they will have the entire best-of-three wildcard series at home from Tuesday.

“It’s a good feeling,” pitcher Joe Musgrove said. “We all enjoy playing at home.”…. I think the fans deserve it. They’ve shown up for us all year long for the last couple of years.”

Season ticket holders and waiting list holders secured most of the tickets for the series.

The fewer than 1,000 remaining tickets for each game will go on sale this morning. They will be available for pre-sale starting at 10 a.m. PT on padres.com to people who have previously registered their email address with the Padres. If there are any tickets left, they will be available to the general public from 12 p.m.

Game times have not yet been set and will not be determined until an opponent is announced.

And there’s no telling who will come to San Diego, as the three teams fighting for the other two wildcard spots are in for an exciting few days.

The Braves were the only ones of the three to win on Friday, leaving them in a virtual tie with the Diamondbacks and Mets.

Those results made it more likely that the Mets and Braves will play at least one game of their scheduled doubleheader on Monday, a circumstance made necessary because the final two games of their series were postponed by rain this week.

For the Padres, Friday was essentially eight innings of survival after opening with a four-run win in Game 1.

Two pitches into the game, Luis Arraez sent a fly ball into the wide area in right-center field that landed on the warning track as he ran to second base.

Arraez advanced to second base after Fernando Tatis Jr.’s groundout to second base, and then things got a little ugly for second baseman Ketel Marte and Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly.

A not-too-hard grounder from Manny Machado bounced off Marte’s glove into right field for a single that scored Arraez and sent Profar to third. Jackson Merrill followed with a single that scored Profar. Next, Xander Bogaerts sent a grounder to shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, who threw to Marte at second base to put out Merrill before Merte sailed his throw to first base, allowing Machado to score.

And after a walk by Jake Cronenworth, David Peralta’s single scored through Boagert’s right side.

The Diamondbacks, who have been nearly as resilient as the Padres over the last two months, fought back in the first half.

Corbin Carroll hit Darvish’s third pitch 412 feet and into the seats behind right field, and Darvish walked the next ball and hit the next before a fielder’s choice grounder beat both runners and made Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s score 4-2 a sacrifice fly.

The Padres added a run in the fourth inning on a single by Kyle Higashioka and a triple by Arraez.

Darvish continued after the first inning, retiring 10 of the next 12 batters to get two outs in the fifth inning with no one out before striking out Carroll and Marte. He reached the final in the fifth and the first in the sixth before meeting Gurriel.

Jeremiah Estrada replaced Darvish, but Gurriel took second on Pavin Smith’s strikeout and scored on a single by Eugenio Suarez.

Adrián Morejón got the first two outs in the seventh inning before a pinch-hit double by Randall Grichuk caused Mike Shildt to walk to Jason Adam, who struck out cleanup hitter Christian Walker and then pitched a scoreless eighth inning.

Robert Suarez made it with a one-out walk for his 36th save of the season and his fifth in his last eight opportunities.

“The guys came right back from a tough thing last night,” Shildt said, referring to the loss in Los Angeles that left the Padres out of shape in the fight for the NL West title. “That really speaks to the club, right. The grit squad shows up. That’s what this club does. … I had a late flight and arrived early. And guys posted. Hungry. Fourth place in the first. It’s nice that it’s possible. This is a nice achievement for the organization and allows us to prepare the situation with our pitching, get the starters up to speed a little and be ready to go on Tuesday.

Originally published: September 27, 2024 at 9:34 p.m