Padres blank Cards in Game 3, reach NLDS
Cooper homers, Sánchez dominates as Marlins knock out Cubs 2-0
SAN DIEGO, Oct 3, (AP): From 21-year-old budding superstar Fernando Tatis Jr to 36-year-old reliever Craig Stammen, the San Diego Padres tossed aside more than two decades of futility and brought joy to a city that’s had its sports psyche beaten down for far too long.
Stammen and eight fellow relievers combined on a four-hitter in a brilliant, record-setting effort that sent the Padres over the St Louis Cardinals 4-0 in the deciding Game 3 of their NL wild-card series.
The Padres won a postseason series for the first time in 22 years and advanced to face the NL West rivals Los Angeles Dodgers in the Division Series at Arlington, Texas, starting Tuesday.
Stammen, making his first start in 10 years, said the Padres weren’t wrapped up in past playoff failures, including being eliminated from the playoffs by the Cardinals three times since 1996.
The nine pitchers marked the most used in a nine-inning shutout in any big league game since at least 1901.
With starters Mike Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet unavailable due to injuries suffered in their final regularseason starts, rookie manager Jayce Tingler was forced to tap the Padres’ already-stressed bullpen and it came through magnificently. San Diego became the first team in baseball history to use eight or more pitchers in three straight postseason games.
Trevor Rosenthal, who started his career with the Cardinals, struck out the side in the ninth and the team began celebrating in empty Petco Park. Players gestured toward fans who watched from balconies overlooking the ballpark. Fans crowded downtown and honked car horns and chanted.
This was the first postseason series victory for the Padres since the 1998 NLCS.
While the Padres celebrated, the Cardinals found out Hall of Famer Bob Gibson had died.
All four Division Series feature matchups between division rivals. All seven Central teams lost in the first round, with the Cardinals joining Cincinnati, the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota. Tatis, who homered twice and drove in five runs in Thursday night’s wild 11-9 victory, doubled into the left-field corner off losing pitcher Jack Flaherty with one out in the fifth and scored on Eric Hosmer’s two-out double to right-center.
The Padres added on against reliever Alex Reyes in the seventh, on a bases-loaded walk to Hosmer, Manny Machado’s fielder’s choice and an error on third baseman Tommy Edman.
Rookie Jake Cronenworth homered in the eighth.
Marlins 2, Cubs 0 In Chicago, the Miami Marlins didn’t need a hand from a fan at Wrigley Field to knock the Chicago Cubs out of the playoffs this time. They did just fine on their own, and they showed they’re hardly bottom feeders.
Garrett Cooper homered against Yu Darvish in a two-run seventh, hardthrowing rookie Sixto Sánchez dominated for five innings and the Miami Marlins won their first playoff series in 17 years, beating the Cubs 2-0 to complete a two-game wild card series sweep.
Miami will face Atlanta in the NL Division Series in Houston starting Tuesday.
Led by manager Don Mattingly and CEO Derek Jeter, the Marlins remained unbeaten in all seven postseason series they have played following triumphs in the 1997 and 2003 World Series. And this time, in empty Wrigley Field, they didn’t need an assist from the crowd. In Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, fan Steve Bartman deflected Luis Castillo’s foul ball as Cubs left fielder Moises Alou tried to make a leaping catch, which led to an eightrun, eighth-inning rally.
Miami lost 105 games in 2019 and became the first team to reach the playoffs after a 100-loss season. The Marlins finished second in the NL East at 31-29 being beset by a virus outbreak early this season that forced 18 players from the field following the opening series and prevented them from playing for more than a week.
The Marlins had T-shirts with “Bottom Feeders” in their dugout Friday, a reference to a remark by Ricky Bottalico, a former Phillies pitcher and current NBC Sports Philadelphia analyst, after the Marlins’ opening-day win in Philadelphia.
Chicago, the NL Central champions, went 3 for 27 (.111) with runners on base in the series. Javier Báez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo combined to go 0 for 12 Friday and finished the series 1 for 24. The trio is 19 for 142 (.134) with 52 strikeouts and six walks in the postseason since the 2016 World Series title as Chicago have lost nine of 13.