SAN DIEGO -- Didn’t matter how. The Padres only needed to find a way.
They trailed two games to none and faced elimination on Tuesday night in this instant classic of a National League Division Series against Milwaukee. They had no Mason Miller and no Adrian Morejon at the back end of their bullpen. They found themselves on the ropes again and again in a Game 3 that swung back and forth deep into the San Diego night.
But when the dust had settled … when Xander Bogaerts had scooped Christian Yelich’s one-hop line drive, stepped on second, then fired to first … when the 45,000-plus who packed Petco Park long before first pitch could finally, mercifully exhale … the Padres had done exactly that.
Somehow, they had found a way.
Ace Michael King -- two days after he’d pitched five innings in Game 2 -- nailed down the last six outs of San Diego’s breathless 4-3 Game 3 victory over Milwaukee. His 40th pitch was a slider that Christian Yelich lined 107 mph at Bogaerts, who started a game-ending double play that sent Petco Park into a frenzy.
Amid the delirium, King stood stationary on the mound and slowly broke into a smile. It had been more than four years since he last recorded a save. But if there was ever a time, this was it.
“I have bullets in my arm that I don't want to save,” King said afterward. “You're in an elimination game, you want everybody to be all-in on it. Not just me included. We have a bunch of dogs down there that are all-in.”
Elimination game? The Padres have another one Wednesday night now, too. The Brewers lead the series, 2-1, with Game 4 set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. PT. If the first three games are any indication, expect plenty of drama.
All three have been decided by a single run, the first time a postseason series has begun with three one-run games since the 2021 NLCS between the Dodgers and Braves.
“Finally were able to come out on the right end of things in this one,” said manager Craig Stammen.
And they did it without their two best relief weapons.
A few hours before first pitch on Tuesday, Miller called the Padres. His wife had gone into labor. He would not be available for Game 3 and was subsequently placed on the paternity list. His absence would make things tricky, but the Padres had long been planning for this eventuality.
And, on paper at least, they had another elite relief weapon to cover that closer role. Or so we all thought.
Unbeknownst to the public -- and to the Brewers -- Morejon had been dealing with fatigue in his left shoulder. “Stickiness,” Stammen called it. Morejon played catch before the game. He even threw off the bullpen mound. But the Padres weren’t going to push it.
“It was hard to map out from the beginning,” Stammen said. “Just because both of those guys are unavailable, and we'd relied on them so much throughout the year. It was a chance for the other guys to pick those two up.”
Nothing, it seems, will come easy in this series, and why should it? These are the 103-win Brewers, owners of baseball’s best record. If the Padres are going to pull off the remarkable comeback they believe they’re capable of, it’s going to take a herculean effort. Clearly. The task is only one-third finished, and consider what the Padres expended to even get here.
“At the end of the day, it was win or go home, right?” said Manny Machado. “Back up against the wall. We had nothing to lose but go out there and play our baseball like we’ve been doing all year.”
For the third straight game, San Diego grabbed an early two-run lead. For the third straight game, Milwaukee erased that deficit. Jake Cronenworth’s solo homer -- left-on-left against Brewers reliever JoJo Romero -- put the Padres in front for good. The ending was anything but straightforward.
Bogaerts’ baserunning savvy created the fourth run. In one leaping motion, he evaded Miguel Andujar’s ground ball and broken bat on his way to third base. When Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt threw the ball away, Bogaerts raced home and slid in safely.
Milwaukee clawed one back, but Bradgley Rodriguez escaped the seventh inning with the lead intact. And that’s when it became clear: This wasn’t going to be the ending anyone had envisioned.
King spent the seventh inning pacing in the bullpen. Eventually the phone rang. He hadn’t pitched in relief since Game 3 of last year’s Wild Card Series. But that was different. King did not pitch in that series otherwise. In this instance, he’d thrown 72 pitches two days ago.
“He came in the office today and said I'm available,” Stammen said.
“I knew that there was a chance it was going to be late in the game because of Mason's wife,” King said. “But six outs to end the game is six outs to end the game. I wasn't as crisp as I'd like to be.
“But I'm very happy for a Game 4.”
(Yes, he wants to pitch in that one, too.)
It wasn’t clear that Morejon was unavailable until King sat down in the dugout following his scoreless eighth. Where you’d expect action in the Padres bullpen, there was none. This would be King’s game to win or lose.
“It's all hands on deck,” said Cronenworth. “He went out there and picked us up big time.”
King became the 16th pitcher to throw five innings as a starter and record a save in the same playoff series since saves became an official stat in 1969. He’s the first since current teammate Walker Buehler in the 2024 World Series.
Fittingly, with their season on the line once again, the Padres will hand the ball to Buehler in Game 4. Their plans beyond Buehler remain unclear. Those are largely contingent upon the availability of Miller and/or Morejon. The Padres just don’t know.
But their objective is the same as it was on Tuesday night:
Find a way.