The Padres beat the Dodgers 4-2 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium with the final outs coming on a triple play, officially earning them a playoff berth.
San Diego will be going to the playoffs for the third time in five years and the eighth time in franchise history. The Padres did it after missing last year's postseason.
Starter Michael King (13-9, 2.95 ERA) was shaky initially, needing 50 pitches to get through the first two innings. However, he prevailed by allowing one unearned run and three hits in five innings, while striking out five and walking two.
After going his previous 50 at-bats without an extra-base hit, Jake Cronenworth hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the second inning to give the Padres an early 2-1 lead. Cronenworth also had no RBI in September until racking up three against San Diego’s biggest rivals.
San Diego added its lead to 4-1 in the fourth with the help of a Xander Bogaerts RBI single and Cronenworth’s RBI double.
The Padres (91-66) have won four in a row and trail the Dodgers by two games for first place in the National League West.
Here are the takeaways:
Playoffs
The Padres are in. This extraordinary season will continue as San Diego will host October baseball.
They have been a fun team to watch. To celebrate making the playoffs in the Dodgers visiting clubhouse makes it even a little more special.
Just keep winning
The Padres are guaranteed at least a wild-card spot but have a chance to win the division with five games remaining in the regular season – including the two games left in the series at Dodger Stadium. They also have the best record in the majors since the All-Star break at 41-17 and have won eight out of eleven games against the Dodgers this season.
If San Diego were to pull off the miracle of winning the NL West, it would be their first division title since 2006.
Memorable triple play
Manny Machado ran to third base to record a force out before firing to second, where Jake Cronenworth was able to complete the throw to first baseman Donovan Solano in time to complete the triple play.
It was San Diego’s first triple-play since June 10, 2010, against the New York Mets.
Right-hander Dylan Cease (14-11, 3.42 ERA) will start against Dodgers right-hander Jack Flaherty (13-I 7, 3.10 ERA) in the second of the three-game series at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday.