Padres Sweep Cubs in Two Games, Set Up NLDS Clash With MLB-Best Brewers Starting Saturday

Since Michael King no-hit his way through most of an 8-0 Game 1 blowout Tuesday night, the Chicago Cubs have scored exactly one run in 18 postseason innings.

The San Diego Padres closed it out 4-1 Wednesday night at Petco Park in front of 47,513 fans, sweeping the best-of-three NL Wild Card Series and sending Chicago home for the winter. The Cubs eliminated San Diego in the Wild Card round at Wrigley Field one year ago this week, according to NY Post and NBC San Diego.

San Diego outscored Chicago 12-1 and outhit them 21-8 across the two games, according to USA Today. The Cubs led the majors with 850 runs scored during the regular season. They didn't get an extra-base hit until the ninth inning of Game 2, per USA Today.

MVP favorite Pete Crow-Armstrong went 0-for-7 with four strikeouts in the series. Paired with Alex Bregman, the Cubs' top of the order went 0-for-15 with eight strikeouts, USA Today reported. Crow-Armstrong was frustrated enough to throw his helmet down the first-base line after a lazy fly ball in the seventh inning of Game 2.

How Game 2 Broke Open

Nick Pivetta kept Chicago off the board for 3 1/3 innings before Nico Hoerner singled home Seiya Suzuki in the fourth, cutting a 2-0 Padres lead to 2-1 and loading the bases with the tying run threatening, according to MLB.com. San Diego manager Mike Shildt went straight to reliever Bradgley Rodriguez, who escaped the jam.

San Diego had built its lead in the second inning on an RBI single from Xander Bogaerts, scoring Ty France, followed by a sacrifice fly from 20-year-old catcher Ethan Salas that brought home Jackson Merrill. Salas became the youngest player ever to catch a major league postseason game, and MLB.com notes he's also believed to be the youngest player at any position to record a postseason sac fly since that stat started being tracked in 1954.

The decisive blow came right after Rodriguez's escape act. Pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets, playing through a plantar plate tear in his left foot that will likely require offseason surgery, drove a 101 mph Daniel Palencia fastball 394 feet for a two-run homer, according to NBC San Diego's pitch-tracking detail. That made it 4-1 and effectively ended the competitive portion of the series.

From there, San Diego's bullpen did what it's done all year. Rodriguez, Jason Adam, Adrián Morejón and Mason Miller combined for 5 2/3 scoreless innings to close it out, with Miller picking up his first career postseason save, according to NBC San Diego. The relief corps allowed just two hits in 5 2/3 innings on the night.

What's Next

San Diego now heads to Milwaukee for a best-of-five NLDS against the Brewers, who finished the regular season with baseball's best record at 103 wins, according to the Washington Post and USA Today. Game 1 is scheduled for Saturday night at American Family Field, with Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski lined up to start, per MLB.com. Game 2 follows Sunday, and the series shifts to Petco Park for Game 3 on Tuesday, according to sportsworldnews.

It's the first postseason meeting ever between the two franchises. The Padres have won 19 of their last 22 games and gone 28-6 at home in their last 34, according to USA Today. San Diego has momentum and arguably the best bullpen in the sport, according to USA Today's framing. Milwaukee has the better record and the rest of October to prove which mattered more.

For the Cubs, the offseason conversation starts now. A lineup built to score in bunches went silent for two straight nights against a Padres pitching staff that dared them to hit it.