Padres Look To Advance To NL Divisional Series

The San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves 4-0 in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series on Tuesday at Petco Park.

Quick Start For Padres

The Padres’ bats came out hot as Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a two-run homer in the first inning to get things started. The 415-foot shot was a great way to start the game for the Padres, who lead the three-game series 1-0.

Kyle Higashioka kept the runs coming as he also homered in the eighth to put San Diego up 4-0. Tatis Jr. and Higashioka were vital to the offense as they both hit two RBIs on top of their home runs.

https://twitter.com/Padres/status/1841308675513942496

Padres Pitching

With 12 strikeouts, no runs and no walks, pitcher Michael King was a huge part of the win. King only allowed five hits. He is just the third player in Padres history to pitch double-digit strikeouts in a playoff game.

https://twitter.com/Padres/status/1841303376207954429

Jason Adam and Robert Suarez came in to end the game for the Padres. Adams struck out three batters and both allowed one hit.

Braves Struggles

Challenges and struggles aren’t new to the Braves as they have faced them all season.

Some of these issues were the results of injuries as they lost three of their starters throughout the season. However, the Braves are the only team to make the postseason when three of their Opening Day starters missed the final 35+ regular-season games on the injured list. Atlanta defied the odds just making it into the postseason.

Atlanta clinched the postseason berth in the second game of the doubleheader with the New York Mets on Monday night. This was just hours before they had to jump on a plane to fly across the county. This had to be a challenge for the Braves as they ended up playing a total of 27 innings on opposite coasts in 24 hours.

Pitching has also been an issue for the Braves all season and it definitely showed this weekend as the drought for pitchers extended. Chris Sale was expected to pitch in the second game against the Mets, but was taken out of the line up hours before the game because of a back injury. Sale (18-3, 2.38 ERA), a contender for the NL Cy Young Award, is not on the Braves’ roster for the Wild Card.

Up Next

Game 2 of the series is at 8:38 tonight (ESPN). The Braves are on the brink of elimination. The winner of the series will face the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.