The Padres will have to navigate a must-win Game 3 against the Brewers without Gavin Sheets in the starting lineup.
San Diego scratched Sheets because of a stiff neck, the team announced hours before first pitch. He had been penciled in to bat sixth, but Samad Taylor has taken his spot. Even with the late change, the Padres said Sheets will still be available off the bench, which points to an issue they believe is manageable.
The lineup tweak comes as the Padres return to home field for the third time in these playoffs and the first time in this series. Manager Craig Stammen said the atmosphere should matter in a game like this, especially with San Diego facing elimination.
"It definitely makes a little bit of difference," Stammen said. "You've got to be able to handle.
You've got to be tough to be able to handle a tough environment. The crowd noise is definitely a factor.
You've got to somehow be able to quiet your mind and execute the same way you have the entire season.
"It's also an adrenaline spike, and how everybody handles that adrenaline spike is a little bit different."
Nick Pivetta gets the ball for San Diego in the biggest start of the series. It will be his second outing of the postseason and only his sixth since returning from a right elbow flexor strain that kept him out for nearly five months.
Pivetta closed the regular season with a 2.86 ERA, 42 strikeouts and a 1.01 WHIP. In the postseason, the 33-year-old is 1-1 with a 2.89 ERA and 23 strikeouts across 22 innings.
Stammen said the Padres have been careful with Pivetta’s workload since he came back.
"I think with Nick specifically, him coming off the injury, we didn't build him up on rehab starts to be able to handle a full workload. It was kind of like hoping to build that workload as we went." Stammen said of what he expects out of Pivetta.
"From what we've seen from him, the shorter-burst outings he's done really well in, and we've seen his - maybe a slight drop-off, and we just want to get him out of the game before that drop-off happens, and I think especially in the playoffs. You'd rather take a pitcher out one batter too early than one batter too late."
In Other News...
Brewers Padres Series Just Got A Petty New Edge
The Brewers have found a little October edge of their own at home, turning to elevator music during opponents batting practice as part of the postseason chess match that tends to show up once the calendar flips. It is the kind of harmless but pointed gamesmanship that feels right for this time of year, when every club is looking for some small way to unsettle the other side before the games start counting in earnest.
San Diego answered in kind at Petco Park, piping elevator music over the speakers while Milwaukee was on the field for an off-day workout. It was a playful jab rather than anything heavy-handed, but it adds a petty little wrinkle to the series and underscores how thin the margins can get when two teams are looking for any edge, even one that sounds more like a department store than a ballpark. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Had A Strange Game 1 Warning That Suddenly Looks Huge
Rainy conditions forced the Brewers to close the roof at American Family Field for Game 1 against the Padres, and what looked like a routine weather decision turned into one of the defining moments of the night. A ball hit the roof and stayed in play long enough for Jackson Chourio to make the catch, turning the strange carom into an out that helped Milwaukee hang on for a 3-2 win.
Chourio then showed up again in Game 2, this time delivering the walk-off single that sent the Brewers home with another victory and a 2-0 lead in the NLDS. In a series where the smallest details have already mattered, the roof call from the opener suddenly looks like more than a footnote for Milwaukee. [Read more 🡒]
William Contreras Has A Brewers Problem They Can't Ignore
William Contreras has long been a reliable part of the Brewers run prevention, but a couple of recent games have put a small crack in that reputation. In two wins, Milwaukee pitchers bounced three pitches past him that he could not block, letting runners move up and adding a little extra stress to innings that otherwise ended in the Brewers favor. It is a reminder that even when the results hold up on the scoreboard, the details behind the plate can still tell a different story.
Contreras has generally been solid at keeping pitches in front of him, but his blocking metrics have dipped this season, and the reasons may be showing up in the way he sets up and receives the ball. The stance and technique changes are subtle, the sort of thing that can get overlooked when the team is still winning, but they matter in a division race where every base advance can change the shape of an inning. Milwaukee does not have to panic, yet it is the kind of catching issue that becomes harder to dismiss the longer it lingers. [Read more 🡒]