SAN DIEGO (AP) Pinch hitter Gavin Sheets hit a two-run homer, five San Diego Padres pitchers combined for a five-batter hit, and San Diego swept the Chicago Cubs from the NL Wild Card Series with a 4-1 victory in Game 2 Wednesday night.
Xander Bogaerts drove in the first run for the Padres, who followed up their 8-0 victory in Tuesday’s Game 1 with another dominant performance on the mound. The Cubs led the majors in runs and the NL in home runs this year, but they managed just eight hits – seven singles – in 18 innings against San Diego’s inspired staff.
Ethan Salas drove in a run while becoming the youngest player to play in a postseason game in major league history for the Padres, whose 20-3 surge since Sept. 5 makes them look like a threat in the NL. With their fifth postseason victory in the last seven years, the Padres advanced to face the MLB-best Milwaukee Brewers in an NL Division Series this weekend.
“It’s our whole group coming together, finding ways to win games over and over again,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said between puffs of a cigar in the Padres’ beer-soaked clubhouse. “It’s great, but we’ve been to this part before and we’re all so hungry to go further.”
A year after the Cubs eliminated the Padres in three tough Wild Card games at Wrigley Field, the Padres reversed the outcome in two games in front of frenzied sellout crowds at Petco Park.
“It’s good to finish in two,” manager Craig Stammen said. “It saves our bullpen a little bit and we can decide who’s going to start the first game. We haven’t decided that yet, but it definitely prepares us better with two days off. Get those guys fresh and ready to go.”
Nico Hoerner had half of the Cubs’ hits in the series and drove in Chicago’s only run in the fourth inning. He also got their only extra base hit of the series with a ninth-inning double against Mason Miller, but the Padres’ vaunted closer calmly finished the save and sparked another massive celebration on the field.
“It didn’t go well here,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “We just didn’t play well enough. They’re playing really well. We just couldn’t do anything offensively, obviously. Look, when you’re in that position, you’re going to be disappointed. You’re going to feel dissatisfied, and that overpowers everything you’re feeling right now. Maybe as I think about it, I think I can go to better places. Right now, that’s all I feel.”
Likely NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong and veteran slugger Alex Bregman struggled mightily at the top of the Cubs’ lineup in San Diego, going 0-for-15 with one walk and eight strikeouts in those two games. Bregman played a little more than a week after being hit in the face by a foul ball.
“Those are the two guys we marked because we don’t want them to beat us in this series,” Stammen said. “We did our best to set up our pitchers to handle them. In the first game, we were fortunate to get a bigger lead. It’s a lot easier to pitch against these guys who have a bigger lead.”
After hitting two homers in the first inning of Game 1, the Padres waited until the second inning of Game 2 to take a 2-0 lead. Ty France led off with a double against Kevin Gausman and scored on Bogaerts’ single before Salas hit a line drive flyout to center, scoring Jackson Merrill.
Salas, the prized 20-year-old prospect recalled on September 1, also became the youngest player to appear in a playoff game for the Padres.
Chicago finally scored when Seiya Suzuki singled and eventually came home on Hoerner’s ground ball to center Nick Pivetta. Stammen immediately pulled his starter in favor of his intimidating bullpen, and Bradgley Rodríguez escaped a bases-loaded jam.
Rodríguez also pitched the fifth to earn the victory in his postseason debut.
“These guys are so good at what they do,” Pivetta said. “It was a pleasure to watch.”
After Bogaerts’ double chased out Gausman in the fourth, Sheets crushed a 100.8 mph fastball from Daniel Palencia into the right field bleachers. Sheets, the fan-favorite outfielder who is playing with a nagging plantar injury in his left foot, hit his second career postseason home run and his first since 2021 as a White Sox rookie.
“It was one of the coolest tracks I’ve ever seen,” Merrill said.
The shot was the Padres’ first postseason home run since 2005, and the cheers from their long-suffering fans shook the park.
The first game of the division series is Saturday in Milwaukee. The Padres have won four of the Brewers’ six games this season, even sweeping a three-game series at Petco Park in August.
—
See the AP’s complete MLB coverage here
Copyright 2026 STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and the Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
Gn sports
