SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres beat the Braves 5-4 to clinch the NL Wild Card Series and advance to the National League Division Series.
The Padres will play the Dodgers in the best-of-five NLDS starting Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
Kyle Higashioka's solo home run started a five-run rally against Max Fried with two outs in the second inning, and the San Diego Padres held on to sweep the Atlanta Braves with a 5-4 win in Game 2 of their NL Wild Card Series on Wednesday night.
Manny Machado added a two-run double with the bases loaded and Jackson Merrill, a top contender for NL Rookie of the Year, followed with a two-run triple as the sellout crowd of 47,705 — the largest in Petco Park history — roared.
The Padres, who would love to win a World Series title in memory of late owner Peter Seidler, head up Interstate 5 to face Shohei Ohtani and the NL West rival and top-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers in a National League Division Series starting Saturday night. San Diego eliminated the 111-win Dodgers in a 2022 NLDS.
Fried and Padres starter Joe Musgrove exited early with apparent injuries. Fried left after the second inning. He was hit on the left hip by a ball off the bat of Fernando Tatis Jr. two batters into his outing. Musgrove left with two outs in the fourth after throwing two slow curveballs to Matt Olson.
After the Padres took a 5-1 lead in the second, Jorge Soler hit a solo homer in the fifth and Michael Harris II had a two-run shot in the eighth.
Atlanta Braves left-hander Max Fried and San Diego Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove both had early exits due to apparent injuries Wednesday night in Game 2 of their NL Wild Card Series.
Fried was done after two innings. He was hit on his left hip by a comebacker from Fernando Tatis Jr. two batters into the game. He stayed in and got out of a bases-loaded jam. He then allowed five runs on six straight hits with two outs in the second. Dylan Lee took over starting the third.
Musgrove threw two slow curveballs to fall behind Matt Olson 2-1 with two outs in the fourth and was visited by pitching coach Ruben Niebla. Manager Mike Shildt and a trainer joined them and Musgrove came out.
Musgrove, who grew up in suburban El Cajon, had two stints on the injured list with right elbow inflammation, costing him a total of 63 games. His second stint sidelined him for 2 1/2 months.
Musgrove threw the first no-hitter in Padres history on April 9, 2021, in his second start with his hometown team after being obtained in an offseason trade with Pittsburgh.
Fried was a first-round draft pick of the Padres in 2012. He was traded to Atlanta in a six-player deal in December 2014. He made his big league on Aug. 8, 2017. He started and won the clinching Game 6 of the 2021 World Series against Houston.
All tickets for the series have been sold, the Padres announced early Monday evening, while a limited number of suites remain available.
Gallagher Square will open at 3 p.m., which includes access to the Padres team store and Power Alley in right field. There will be a special Postseason Pregame Party in Gallagher Square prior to each game beginning two- and-a-half hours before first pitch featuring live music, photo opportunities and drink specials.
All remaining gates at the ballpark with access to the seating bowl will open at 3:30 p.m.
Fans should be in their seats no later than 40 minutes prior to the first pitch of each game to enjoy the entire pregame ceremony.
The 5:38 p.m. game will be televised by ESPN.
Padres Postseason ticket information at Padres.com/Postseason
Padres National League Wild Card Series Schedule:
Game 1: Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 5:38 PM PT- Game 2: Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 5:38 PM PT
- Game 3 (if necessary): Thursday, Oct. 3 at 4:08 PM PT*
Game 1
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a towering two-run homer on his first playoff swing in four years and Michael King struck out 12 in his first postseason start as the San Diego Padres beat rookie AJ Smith-Shawver and the Atlanta Braves 4-0 in Game 1 of their NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday night.
Tatis' 415-foot shot landed in the second deck in left field at Petco Park and sent the towel-waving, sellout crowd of 47,647 into a frenzy. The 25-year-old star, who missed just more than 2 1/2 months this season with a stress reaction in his right thighbone, watched the ball fly away, tossed his bat aside, gestured toward the home dugout and did his signature stutter-step around third base.
Game 2 in the best-of-three playoff is Wednesday night. If the Padres win the series, they'll face their biggest rivals, the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers, in the National League Division Series. The Padres eliminated the 111-win Dodgers in a 2022 NLDS.
King was brilliant in becoming the first pitcher to have 12 strikeouts with no runs and no walks allowed in his first career postseason start. He joined Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock as the only Padres pitchers with double-digit strikeout games in playoff history. He allowed five hits and walked none.
King made his playoff debut with the New York Yankees in the AL playoff bubble in 2020 at eerily empty Petco Park, where the only "fans" were a few thousand cardboard cutouts. He pitched two innings in a loss in Game 3 in a Division Series that Tampa Bay won in five games.
The right-hander came over in the blockbuster trade that sent Juan Soto to the Yankees on Dec. 7.
The Padres were the only one of the four home teams to win Tuesday.
The Padres opened their National League Wild Card Series Tuesday at Petco Park, facing an Atlanta Braves team that will be playing its third game in two days on two coasts.
The Braves had to play a makeup doubleheader against the New York Mets on Monday in Atlanta, with both teams needing one victory to be assured of a postseason berth.