The San Diego Padres are heading into Game 3 of the National League Division Series with no margin left, and the matchup on the mound does them no favors.
After dropping both games in Milwaukee, the Padres are down 0-2 and staring at a must-win night on Tuesday. Ty France didn’t sugarcoat the situation after Sunday’s walk-off loss, saying, "[We] could very easily be going home up 2-0.
But the reality is, we're not," Padres first baseman Ty France said after Sunday's walk-off loss. "We have to go and have to win.
No ifs, ands or buts. Got to play our best baseball now."
The bigger problem for San Diego has been the offense. Through the first two games of the series, the Padres have scored only five runs. They’ve also gone 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position and stranded 20 runners on base.
Now they have to try to solve Dustin May.
The Brewers are giving the ball to the right-hander in Game 3, and his track record against San Diego this season is hard to ignore. In three starts against the Padres - two while with the St.
Louis Cardinals and one with Milwaukee - May gave up three runs in 22 innings, good for a 1.23 ERA. He also piled up 22 strikeouts while issuing just five walks.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy didn’t hesitate when asked about trusting May despite the rough finish to his season. "He's pitched fantastic against the Padres," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said when asked about his confidence in May for Game 3 despite a rough end to the year. "He's got experience and we brought him in to do that."
That late-season dip is part of the picture, though. May didn’t get beyond three innings in any of his final three starts, and he finished with an 8.59 ERA over that stretch. He also hasn’t pitched in the postseason since the 2020 season with the Dodgers.
San Diego is countering with Nick Pivetta, who has looked sharp since returning from the injured list in September after nearly five months away. He finished the regular season with a 1.45 ERA over four starts, covering 18.2 innings, and then worked in Game 2 of the wild-card series against the Chicago Cubs, allowing one run in 3.1 innings with four strikeouts.
Padres manager Craig Stammen pointed to Pivetta’s body of work and his ability to handle the spotlight. "I think our confidence in Nick goes back to last year. He had this great season that he had last year," Padres manager Craig Stammen said.
"Pitched very well here once he came back from injury in September. And then had a solid start against the Cubs in the wild-card.
He's been able to handle the moment. And we like his stuff.
He's been a good pitcher for a lot of his career and especially here with the Padres."
Game 3 between the Padres and Brewers is set for Tuesday, Oct. 6, with first pitch at 6:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. ET.
In Other News...
Padres Season Now Hinges On One Painful Game 2 Decision
The Padres had the kind of Game 2 that lingers, the sort that turns a single inning into the center of an entire postseason conversation. Mason Miller was asked to get the final six outs, but he could not finish the job, and Milwaukee walked it off on Jackson Chourios two-run single for a 4-3 Brewers win that pushed San Diego to the brink. Millers command wavered badly along the way, and by the end of the night the choice to keep him in drew plenty of scrutiny.
Now San Diego heads home down 2-0 in the NLDS and staring at a simple but punishing equation: win three straight or the season is over. The pressure is no longer just on the lineup to score or the bullpen to hold, but on the decisions that shape each high-leverage inning from here on out. One game changed the tone of the series, and it left the Padres with very little room to survive another misstep. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Explain Late Mason Miller Call After Crushing Game 2 Collapse
The Padres Game 2 loss in Milwaukee left them staring at an 0-2 hole in the National League Division Series, and the way it unraveled only deepened the sting. San Diego had turned to Mason Miller for six outs in a high-leverage spot, trusting the closer to help lock down the game, but the plan fell apart in the ninth when his command slipped and the Brewers kept pressing until Jackson Chourio delivered a walk-off two-run single.
Afterward, manager Craig Stammen and Miller both addressed the late call to extend him beyond the usual closer usage, a decision that now looms over a crushing collapse. For a Padres team that needed one clean finish to even the series, the choice to ride Miller that long became part of the postgame conversation, with the result leaving San Diego to answer not just for the loss, but for how it got there. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Just Got A New NLDS Concern As Series Shifts Home
As the National League Division Series shifts to San Diego for Game 3, the Padres added another experienced arm to the mix by reinstating right-hander Walker Buehler from the paternity list. To make room, Randy Vasquez was taken off the roster, a move that reflects how tightly San Diego is managing its pitching staff as the series changes venues and the leverage starts to climb.
Buehler is expected to matter if the matchup goes beyond Game 3, which gives the Padres a little more flexibility in how they piece together the back half of the series. For a club trying to control every pitching decision in October, getting him back into the active roster only adds to the questions Milwaukee now has to account for as the series moves forward. [Read more 🡒]