Holy Sheets! Padres get their Cubs revenge, sweep Wild Card rematch to reach NLDS
SAN DIEGO — Revenge, apparently, is best served underneath 47,513 screaming fans waving yellow towels.One year after the Chicago Cubs sent the San Diego Padres home from Wrigley Field, the Padres returned the favor Wednesday night at Petco Park, beating Chicago 4-1 in Game 2 to sweep their NL Wild Card Series and advance to the NLDS.The rematch belonged to San Diego.After Michael King flirted with a no-hitter in Tuesday’s 8-0 demolition, the Cubs at least showed a pulse Wednesday.Unfortunately, by the time they found it, they had wandered directly into the worst neighborhood in postseason baseball: the Padres bullpen.Chicago’s offense, the highest-scoring unit in MLB during the regular season, managed just one run in 18 postseason innings.To make matters worse, presumptive NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong went 0-for-7 with four strikeouts in the series.Not ideal.Kevin Gausman kept Chicago alive early after the Padres ambushed Matthew Boyd in Game 1, but San Diego eventually broke through in the second inning.Xander Bogaerts drove home Ty France before 20-year-old Ethan Salas — the youngest catcher ever to start an MLB postseason game — lifted a sacrifice fly that scored Jackson Merrill for a 2-0 lead.Chicago finally answered in the fourth.Seiya Suzuki reached and Nico Hoerner singled him home, producing the Cubs’ first run of the series and ending Nick Pivetta’s night after just 3 1/3 innings.Suddenly, Chicago had runners on first and second and the tying run threatening.Padres manager Craig Stammen didn’t blink.He went straight for Bradgley Rodriguez, beginning the bullpen parade San Diego spent the entire series trying to reach.Rodriguez escaped a bases loaded jam without another run scoring, and Chicago’s best opportunity disappeared.Pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets delivered the knockout blow in the bottom half of the inning.
Sheets somehow got the barrel underneath the pitch and launched a towering two-run homer into the right-field seats, turning a tense...