Petco Park went quiet in a hurry Wednesday night, and by the end of it the Padres’ season was over.
Milwaukee beat San Diego 3-1 to finish off the Padres and punch its ticket to the NLCS, where the Brewers will meet the Los Angeles Dodgers after Los Angeles beat the Atlanta Braves earlier in the day.
The game started with Walker Buehler on the mound for San Diego, but the Brewers got to him first. Garrett Mitchell drove in the opening run with an RBI single in the top of the third inning.
San Diego answered quickly. Fernando Tatis Jr. tied it with a solo home run, his second hit of the series after he had gone two games without a hit.
Craig Stammen went to the bullpen after three innings from Buehler, and the right-hander finished with one run allowed on three hits and two walks.
Milwaukee regained control in the fifth. Mitchell tripled, then scored on a Jackson Chourio single to put the Brewers back in front 2-1. In the sixth, Sal Frelick added an RBI sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.
Stammen used Robbie Ray for one inning, Bradgley Rodriguez for 0.2 innings and Yuki Matsui for one batter. Jason Adam followed and allowed two hits and a run, the Frelick sac fly.
Mason Miller, activated from the paternity list, worked the seventh and gave up two hits and a walk but escaped without damage.
Joe Musgrove then took over and turned in a strong showing in his first appearance since Game 1 against the Chicago Cubs, throwing two innings.
San Diego’s best chance to flip the night came in the eighth. Manny Machado sent what looked like a game-tying two-run homer toward the wall, but it was caught just short. That left the Padres still chasing.
The final inning closed the door. Ethan Salas struck out after pinch-hitting for Austin Hays, Xander Bogaerts grounded out, and Gavin Sheets, pinch-hitting for Luis Campusano, struck out swinging.
San Diego finished with just three hits. Milwaukee had 10.
For the Padres, it was another night where the offense never really showed up, and when the biggest swing of the game was Machado’s near-miss at the wall, the ending felt brutal. The season now shifts into the offseason with Game 1’s Ty France roof-ball controversy, Mason Miller’s rare blown save, and Machado’s robbed homer all sitting in the same painful pile of what-ifs.
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