The Padres gave Petco Park a postseason escape act Tuesday night, surviving Milwaukee 4-3 to keep their National League Division Series alive. Down 2-0 in the series and without closer Mason Miller, San Diego leaned on an unlikely finishing move: ace Michael King recording the final six outs only two days after starting Game 2.
Key takeaways
- San Diego cut Milwaukee’s series advantage to 2-1 with a one-run Game 3 victory.
- King worked the final two innings in his first relief appearance of the season.
- Miller was placed on the paternity list shortly before first pitch after his wife went into labor.
- Jake Cronenworth delivered a fifth-inning solo homer off left-hander JoJo Romero.
- Each of the first three games of the series has been settled by one run.
King answers the bullpen call
This was not the neat, scripted version of a postseason win. The Padres had been pushed to the brink, their usual ninth-inning option unavailable, and the game kept tightening as the night moved along in front of a packed Petco Park crowd of 45,000.
With San Diego protecting a 4-3 lead after Bradgley Rodriguez navigated a tense seventh inning, the Padres handed the ball to King. The right-hander had thrown five innings in Game 2 two days earlier, but he was asked to take a different assignment this time: get the final six outs and give the club another day in October.
King did exactly that. Making his first bullpen appearance of the season, he closed the door over the last two frames and preserved a win the Padres badly needed.
Cronenworth provides the swing, Padres extend the series
Cronenworth supplied the key offensive jolt in the fifth, turning around a left-on-left matchup against Romero for a solo home run that put San Diego ahead. The Padres later added a run, while Milwaukee continued to answer and keep the margin razor-thin.
There has been no breathing room in this matchup. The first three games have all finished as one-run decisions, the first postseason series to open that way since the Dodgers and Braves met in the 2021 National League Championship Series.
Game 4 is set for Wednesday in San Diego, with first pitch scheduled for 10 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CT and 7 p.m. PT. Milwaukee still owns the 2-1 edge, but the Padres have made clear they are not ready to leave their ballpark—or this series—quietly.
