Brewers Beat Padres 3-1 and Head Back to NLCS vs. Dodgers
Garrett Mitchell's catch took a possible tying homer from Manny Machado in the eighth; Milwaukee won the series 3-1 and opens at home Sunday.
With Milwaukee leading 3-1 in the eighth inning, Manny Machado hit a 406-foot fly ball to right-center that would have tied the game. Garrett Mitchell caught it at the warning track, according to ESPN. That play preserved the Brewers' 3-1 win over the Padres on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at Petco Park in San Diego, which gave them the National League Division Series 3-1.
San Diego had avoided elimination a day earlier with a 4-3 win in Game 3. This time Milwaukee took the lead in the third inning, and Fernando Tatis Jr. tied it in the same frame with a 429-foot solo homer. It was the Padres' only run of the game.
In the fifth, Mitchell got on base and scored on a Jackson Chourio single through the drawn-in infield, according to AP. Jake Bauers added the third run in the sixth on a Sal Frelick sacrifice fly. Milwaukee won with 10 hits to San Diego's 3 and without a home run.
The bullpen did the rest. Aaron Ashby, the winning pitcher, threw three hitless innings with three strikeouts. Abner Uribe covered the middle stretch, and Trevor Megill closed the ninth with three outs for the save. The three combined for five innings without allowing a hit, according to ESPN. Starter Robert Gasser had left after four innings with one run allowed.
Machado said afterward the ball was close:
"Two more inches and that ball may have been a homer."
Mitchell told AP he knew the wall at Petco Park is not as high as at other ballparks. Christian Yelich joked that Machado "has hit about 400 homers" in the majors, according to ESPN.
According to MLB.com, the win also ended a streak of 12 straight road losses for Milwaukee in the postseason. Manager Pat Murphy described his team as "resilient, relentless."
Milwaukee returns to the National League Championship Series and meets the Dodgers again; according to AP, Los Angeles swept them in 2025. Game 1 is Sunday, Oct. 11, in Milwaukee, with Jacob Misiorowski the probable starter. The start time had not been published at the close of this story.
