Padres Eliminate the Atlanta Braves in Wild Card Series; Moving on to NLDS!
The energy at Petco Park has been absolutely unmatched. A Sea of San Diegans came out, golden towels and all; and cheered on their team to glory. It is official, the San Diego Padres eliminate the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card Series; and are moving on to NLDS!
This wild card series between the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres was basically ALL San Diego. They hopped into the drivers seat and kept their foot on the pedal. In game one the Braves never really could get anything going. Mainly because they faced a dominant starting pitcher, Michael King. King tossed heat that the Braves couldn’t even begin to handle.
San Diego ends up winning game one with no contest. They shut out Atlanta 3-0. And inched themselves ever closer to NLDS. A series in which they will play their rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers. A rematch of 2022 playoffs. Can’t wait.
However game two in this ATL/SD wild card matchup went much differently. The battle was REAL. Being on the verge of elimination, Atlanta wasted no time getting on the board. They drew first blood by scoring a run in the first. However, the Padres answered fast with a big home run by catcher, Kyle Higashioka. An excellent roster piece AJ Preller picked up in the Juan Soto trade with the New York Yankees.
And San Diego kept answering. Thanks to hits from rookie of the year favorite Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado; the Padres take a 1-5 lead. For most of the game the score remains the same.
However, in the later innings the Braves fire back! In a blink of an eye Atlanta gets right back in it. Thanks to some powerhouse hitting and big time home run. The score soon reads 4-5. There is literally no room for error for the Padres.
Padres Eliminate the Atlanta Braves in Wild Card Series; Moving on to NLDS!
But the Padres bullpen would hang in there and get the job done. Earlier in the game, starting pitcher, Joe Musgrove had exited the mound and was removed from the game completely. A development that temporarily took the wind out of the Petco Park crowd. Musgrove had been pitching an absolute gem. So his removal was a biggie.
However, this is what Preller had worked on all year people. Acquiring pitching. Making sure there are enough arms to win the game. His hard work paid off.
The Padres bullpen keeps the lead in order to allow San Diego’s closer, Robert Suarez to come in and put the fork in Atlanta. Suarez had had a very rough couple of outings. So there was certainly some worry there. But Suarez collects 2 outs and Higgy (Kyle Higashioka) catches a pop up for out number 3. The game had been won.
Congratulations to the Padres. America’s Fun Team does it again. San Diego will play the Dodgers on Saturday.
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