PHOENIX -- As early August regular-season baseball games go … they don’t get much bigger than this one.
The Padres and Diamondbacks are vying for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. And, yes, there are other teams in the mix. But these two teams are currently at the center of that race. Come late September, there might only be room for one of them at the postseason table.
After the Padres’ 5-1 victory on Thursday night, it sure looks like this race might go down to the wire. Here’s some instant reaction from Chase Field:
A critical Padres victory
Why, exactly, was this particular game so important? Call it a three-game swing. The Padres gained a game. The D-backs lost a game. And the head-to-head series -- which is used as the first postseason tiebreaker -- is tied once again.
These two teams won’t meet again until the final weekend of the season. They’ll play a three-game series at Petco Park from Sept. 25-27. The winner of that series wins the season-series tiebreaker. And the way things are going, that tiebreaker might end up mattering an awful lot.
There are, of course, 43 games before the Padres and Diamondbacks meet again. Both teams will use those 43 games to try and build a gap large enough to make that final weekend irrelevant. Or at least, to put themselves in the best position possible for that final weekend.
But with the tiebreaker still undecided, there’s a good chance the final series will be played with a heck of a lot on the line.
Managing for the occasion
On a different night, Walker Buehler almost certainly pitches the fifth inning. But -- for reasons noted above -- there was an awful lot riding on Thursday’s game. Craig Stammen managed like it.
Buehler was solid across four innings, as the Padres built a 3-1 lead. But the D-backs were starting to hit him a bit, and the top of their order was due up in the fifth.
And, really, what’s the point of having a super-bullpen if you’re not going to use it on a night like this one?
The Padres’ four highest-leverage arms were all rested. So Stammen used them. Bradgley Rodriguez picked up the next six outs, as the Padres grew their lead to 5-1. Even with the four-run lead, Jeremiah Estrada covered the seventh, Adrian Morejon got the eighth and Mason Miller nailed down the ninth.
Bradgley’s big moment
In a bullpen that features a handful of the best relievers in the game, the Padres have placed an awful lot of faith in a 22-year-old rookie this season. Rodriguez has delivered.
In 48 appearances, Rodriguez has posted a 2.29 ERA. Considering the circumstances, the six outs he recorded on Thursday -- facing the top six hitters in the Arizona lineup -- might have been the biggest six outs he’s ever recorded.
The Padres relief corps has been hit hard by injuries this year. Jason Adam and David Morgan remain on the IL, and Estrada missed plenty of time as well. The San Diego bullpen has still been one of the best in baseball this season. Miller and Morejon have a lot to do with that.
So does Rodriguez.