The San Diego Padres combined a six-run second inning with starter Michael King and three relievers retiring 16 consecutive Los Angeles Dodger batters in a 6-5 victory Tuesday night at Petco Park to take a two games to one lead in their National League Division Series.
Game 4 will be played Wednesday at Petco Park. Game 5, if necessary, would be played Friday at Dodger Stadium.
Manny Machado singled leading off the second. Jackson Merrill, the next batter, hit a ground ball that Los Angeles first baseman Freddie Freeman backhanded, fell to his knees and then his throw hit Machado on the left shoulder.
The play was ruled a fielder's choice and Freeman was charged with an error for allowing Machado to advance to third.
Xander Bogarts then hit a ground ball to shortstop Miguel Rojas. Merrill beat Rojas to second to avoid a force out and Bogarts beat Rojas' throw to first as Machado scored on what was also ruled a fielder's choice. David Peralta doubled in Merrill and Bogarts to give the Padres a 3-1 lead.
Peralta advanced to third on Jake Cronenworth's infield single and scored on Kyle Higashioka's sacrifice fly. Fernando Tatis Jr. homered one out later to increase the Padres' lead to 6-1.
The Dodgers cut the lead to 6-5 in the third on Teoscar Hernández's one-out grand slam that followed consecutive singles by Rojas, Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts.
Los Angeles did not have another runner reach base until Freeman's two- out single in the eighth off Tanner Scott, the fourth of five Padre pitchers. Robert Suarez then relieved Scott and retired the final four batters, striking out two for his second save of the postseason.
The 16 consecutive batters retired in a game immediately after giving up a grand slam was the most in MLB postseason history, according to OptaSTATS, a sports analytics firm.
The Padres also became the first team in the regular season or postseason to give up a grand slam, score in only one inning and not score after the second inning and win, also according to OptaSTATS
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead on Betts' first-inning home run.
King was the winning pitcher, improving to 2-0 in the postseason, after giving up five runs and five hits in five innings.
Los Angeles starter Walker Buehler (0-1) was charged with the loss, allowing six runs and seven hits in five innings.
