SAN DIEGO — Bring on the Dodgers.
The San Diego Padres swept the Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card Series, ambushing Braves starter Max Fried and hanging on for a 5-4 win Wednesday in Game 2 at Petco Park. It sets up the third Padres-Dodgers NLDS matchup in five years. Game 1 is Saturday at Dodger Stadium: Dylan Cease versus Jack Flaherty.
Both Fried and Padres starter Joe Musgrove exited early Wednesday.
In what might be his last Braves start, Fried lasted only two innings. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first inning, but was blasted for five runs — all with two outs — in the second. Kyle Higashioka homered, and Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill drove in two runs apiece. Machado now has 11 postseason RBI, tying Tony Gwynn for most in franchise history.
Musgrove departed in the fourth inning with an elbow injury. The Padres bullpen quieted most of the Braves lineup, but leadoff man Michael Harris II had three hits, including a two-run homer off Jason Adam in the eighth to make it a one-run game.
Joe Musgrove’s injury dampens sweep
Moments before his exit, Musgrove consecutively threw the two slowest pitches of his career — a curveball at 75.2 mph and another at 74.2 mph.
The Padres later announced right elbow tightness, a concerning development for a pitcher who twice went on the injured list this year because of elbow-related problems.
The Padres seemingly possess the depth to withstand an extended absence for Musgrove. Michael King looks like a potential ace, Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish will start the first two division-series games against the Dodgers, and Martín Pérez has been more than serviceable. In the meantime, the bullpen is built to shorten games.
But without Musgrove, a proven playoff hero, the challenge of beating L.A. and advancing deep into October could become significantly more difficult. And if he manages to return this month, the fear of re-injury would be high.
Max Fried’s postseason struggles hit a new low
In what might’ve been Max Fried’s final start for the Braves, one of the finest escape acts of his career — from a base-loaded, no-outs jam in the first inning — was followed by one of the worst innings of his career, at the most inopportune time. He gave up eight hits and five runs in two innings of Game 2 loss, exiting early due to ineffectiveness and pain in the left hip from being hit by a first-inning line drive.
While the Braves said there was no one they’d rather have on the mound in this must-win situation, and Fried earned a big-game reputation and permanent place in Braves lore with his six scoreless innings in the 2021 World Series-clinching Game 6 win at Houston, there have been plenty of postseason struggles for the lefty.
Fried has a 5.10 ERA in 20 postseason games including 12 starts, and in his past six postseason starts he’s 1-4 with an 8.28 ERA and 41 hits allowed in 25 innings. That includes that World Series win.
Half of the Padres’ eight hits off Fried didn’t leave the infield, but some very costly ones did, beginning with Kyle Higashioka’s two-out, game-tying solo homer in the second inning, which came on a Fried mistake – a 1-and-2 fastball left over the middle and waist-high.
That was the first of six consecutive hits by the Padres, and the beginning of the end for the Braves.
Padres overwhelm with two outs
All season, the Padres have pushed a certain mantra. It can be described like this: When you consistently put the ball in play, good things tend to happen.
That’s exactly what occurred in the bottom of the second. The Padres became the first team in postseason history to get six consecutive hits and collectively hit for the cycle in the same inning. They did all that with two outs. It started with Kyle Higashioka’s home run — his second in two days — but it continued with a line-drive single, two straight infield singles, a double and a triple.
By the time the dust settled, San Diego had scored five runs that proved crucial, given the Braves’ eventual surge. It was the fourth time in franchise history that the Padres scored at least five runs in a playoff inning. It was their first time doing so since they scored five runs in Game 2 of the 2022 National League Championship against the Phillies.
— The Athletic’s Stephen J. Nesbitt contributed to this report.
(Photo of Kyle Higashioka: Denis Poroy / Imagn Images)
