*Photo from ABC30*
San Diego wins series 2-1
The stage was set, and at the end of the night, the west coast kids partied it up. Juan Soto drove in a pair of runs, Austin Nola drove in two runs, and the San Diego Padres defeated the New York Mets with a 6-0 victory on Sunday night in Queens.
Of all the wild card round series, this was the only series to make it all 3 games, and it was not a disappointing series. With the win, the Padres secured a spot in the NLDS for the second time in 3 years, and they're playing the same team. The Padres also ensured at least one home game will be played at Petco Park, the first playoff game in San Diego in front of fans in 16 years.
The Padres locked down the series win in convincing fashion, riding dominant pitching and timely hitting to the win in the biggest game of the year to date. This marks just the 5th time in team history that the Padres have won a playoff series.
Padres GM AJ Preller said of the series win "That was a tremendous baseball game, there’s no other way to say it. You get a starting pitcher in Musgrove with total dominance, command, control, power, in an incredible environment. Suarez and Hader at the back of the bullpen throwing absolute pellets and strikes. Defense, too. Just a total team effort."
Starting the scoring in the second inning for the Padres was Nola. With the bases loaded, Nola singled to left field, scoring Ha-Seong Kim and Josh Bell to give the Padres a 2-0 lead. When the 4th inning rolled around, Grisham added to the lead. He singled to center field, scoring Kim to make the Padres lead a 3-0 margin.
One inning later, in the 5th, it was Manny Machado's turn to bring in a run. He singled to right center field, bringing Jurickson Profar across home plate to make it a 4-0 game. In the 8th, Soto delivered the knock out punch for the Padres, singling to left field to score Grisham and Kim, making the score 6-0 in favor of the Padres.
Getting the start for the Padres was San Diego native Joe Musgrove. He dominated the Mets, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out 5 hitters in 7 shutout innings. Robert Suarez came on for the 8th and pitched a scoreless inning, and Josh Hader did the same in the 9th to clinch the win.
The performance from Musgrove is right up there with his greatest career starts, including his 2021 no hitter. He dominated the Mets so much that manager Buck Showalter requested Musgrove be checked for sticky substances. A lengthy umpire check found nothing, and Musgrove kept pitching.
Musgrove said of being checked for sticky stuff that "I said, ‘You take what you want, man.' He checked it all. He found nothing. And I went back to work. At the point in the game when it happened, I was so dialed in already. All my pitches felt good. I felt like I was executing. So it almost just kind of lit a fire under me."
It was Chris Bassitt who got the start for the Mets, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks while pitching just 4 innings. David Peterson and Mychal Givens were charged with the other 3 runs. Drew Smith, Seth Lugo, Edwin Diaz, and Trevor May also pitched for the Mets.
For the Mets, a nightmare end of the season wrapped up with a dud of a loss in game 3. They possessed the lead in the NL East until the final week of the season, when the Atlanta Braves swept them. They won 101 games and were serious contenders, until a disaster of two weeks ended the year.
Mets starter Max Scherzer said after the game that "Our goal was to win the World Series, and we failed. We had a ballclub that could do it. I really love this clubhouse. I love all the guys in here. I thought we had great chemistry. I really thought we had the makeup to do it. I’ve been on several teams that have gone deep in the postseason. I thought we shared a lot of the same characteristics of those teams. Unfortunately, we got beat."
Up next, the Padres travel to Los Angeles for the NLDS against their hated rival Los Angeles Dodgers, with game one on Tuesday night. The Mets enter the offseason earlier than expected, with lots of decisions to make as they keep looking for the elusive world series title.
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