Manny Machado’s 2-run homer helps Padres defeat Cubs, force winner-take-all Game 3 | Wild Card Recap

Manny Machado’s 2-run homer helps Padres defeat Cubs, force winner-take-all Game 3 | Wild Card Recap

apiece. And for more, welcome to CBS sports MLB writer Matt Snyder. Cubs bullpen tossed four and two thirds of perfect baseball in game one. Padres pen answers back in game two five and a third of one hit ball. Trade deadline acquisition Mason Miller has struck out the first eight batters he faced in the postseason, including five in this game. Then he hit a guy who was lifted for Robert Suarez, who got help from Fernando Tatis Jr on a liner to end the eighth. Suarez then closed it out in the ninth to preserve the shutout. Matt, what can you say about the job Mason Miller did in this game? I mean, this is exactly why Miller made that move, right? I mean, other than that, he liked to move chess pieces all over the place. Look, I was thinking earlier, I think he might have the best pure stuff that I’ve ever seen. When you just watch, let’s say, one inning, right? Like we don’t get to go back to prime Pedro Martinez and say, yeah, but he could go seven or 8 or 9. No, I’m just talking about one inning going out there, throwing 104.5mph, dropping in, breaking stuff. Well over 90 in the strike zone. All command is great. I just don’t think there’s anybody who’s ever been better in baseball history at making hitters look foolish with just overwhelmingly good, physical, raw stuff. And again, that’s why A.J. Preller went out and got him the bullpen as a whole. Adrian Morejon. You can’t say enough about what he did being brought in so early in the game, bridging that gap to Mason Miller there. He threw in game one as well. Miller threw in game one and game two. They both extended themselves a little. We’ll see in game three if that matters. But it didn’t matter during the game today because you’re just trying to get to game three before you can even think about it. And the story of the day was the Padres bullpen led by Mason Miller? Yeah, the key is getting the lead to them, right? Like if you’re going to get a lead to those guys, then they can shut it down. As the stars step up for the Padres, get a run in the first inning against the Cubs opener Andrew Kittredge, to set the tone. Manny Machado, after sliding up against the Cubs dugout attempting to make a catch, comes to the plate in the next inning, hits a two run homer off a show to Imanaga, left the ball over the middle of the plate and Machado zero for his last 13 in the postseason before that homer. Matt, what a moment for Machado. Really a turning point in this game. Yeah, absolutely. That was the big blow. Obviously it was a two run home run and everything, but it was when it’s just one nothing right? It was yesterday. And then the Cubs hit back to back homers in the fifth. They manufactured a run later. They won three one. This one looked like okay is it going to be similar to game one where the Cubs give up that run early, but the pitching keeps them around, and then they make their move in the middle innings before they have to deal with Mason Miller. Well, Machado gets that two run shot. And all of a sudden Schulte feels like, hey, I’m going to go to the bullpen now and preserve this three run lead. Maybe extend these guys and make sure the Cubs don’t even sniff this lead. And that’s what happened. There were times that the Cubs had a runner on base. Didn’t seem like that big of a deal because it was a three run lead instead of that one run lead. Such a big deal. Padres forced a game three. Former Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish gets the ball for San Diego. Jameson Taillon on the mound for Chicago. Matt. But you’d have to think this game will once again come down to the bullpens. Who’s going to be the most elite? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you look at just this pitching matchup and you just look at the names, I think people might have a tendency to think, oh, Yu Darvish is way better than Jameson Taillon. I disagree. Right now Jameson Taillon is the better pitcher. But it might not matter if the Cubs don’t get to Darvish early. And let’s say the Padres scratch a couple runs across and it’s two nothing going into the fourth or fifth inning. All of a sudden, Mike Schultz just might drop the hammer. And that might be enough to win the series right there with those power arms in the bullpen. And again, that was Pressler’s plan at the trade deadline when he went out. And he added they did suffer the big blow earlier this season when Jason Adam went down with injury, but they’ve still been able to piece it together. Jeremiah Estrada has stepped up. In the meantime. Remember, Michael King is in the bullpen for the series. If they wanted to use him as kind of an X factor reliever to bridge the gap between Yu Darvish and that bullpen, that’s something to watch for tomorrow. It’s I think it’s going to be low scoring again and a lot. It’s going to come down to the bullpen performance. I think that if the starters stayed in for a little bit, I would give the advantage to the Cubs, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot of bullpen, and so you have to give a slight advantage to the Padres. It’s going to be a close one. This feels like an absolute toss up. Like if you asked me to pick a winner, I don’t know honestly. Like it could go either way because like if the Padres get a one nothing lead, their bullpen is good enough to hold on. If the Cubs come out and slug their way to, I don’t know, a four run lead early on, their bullpen is good enough to hang on. I think it’s going to come down to the bullpen, Matt, but it’s also going to come down to who can come up in those clutch moments, like what we saw from Manny Machado on this day. Absolutely, absolutely. And the Cubs do have a better offense. But when the pitching is this good, it’s such a small margin of error for the offense. And the Cubs were swinging and whiffing all day today because that stuff on the Padres pitching staff, especially in the bullpen, is so, so, so good. And let’s give credit to Dylan Cease while he was in the game as well. He was great. If he wasn’t great and it was 3 to 1 Cubs before Machado came to bat, maybe the Cubs go to the bullpen and don’t let Shota Imanaga see Machado there or something like that. It’s a totally different game, so you have to give Dylan Cease credit as well. Like I said, Cubs have the better offense, Padres have the better bullpen, but the margin isn’t that huge on either side. You could see either pitcher getting knocked around, but you could also see either starting pitcher do really, really well. It’s a it’s probably, as you said, it’s a total toss up. It’s probably one of those games where the gambling line will be like -110 for both sides, maybe -115 Cubs, -105 Padres. Just because it’s in Wrigley? Something like that. But it is a toss up. Well, so much is at stake. -118 Cubs right now. Plus 100 for the Padres. So look, we were right. We were thinking right. We’re right on right on the line in terms of it’s a virtual pick’em. There’s so much at stake though, right? Padres are trying to not be the Padres in the postseason. Like here we go again. They’re going to lose a series. And the Cubs had such a great season even though they got caught by the Brewers. And they’re trying to get redemption and move on and face those Milwaukee Brewers. The winner moves on to the Division Series. The Brewers, awaiting the winner of Thursday’s game. And well, the trend is not your friend. If you are a Cubs fan. Chicago’s own three in a winner take all games at home. The last such loss was in 2018. Small sample size. Okay, both teams got to show up big. It’s win or the seas is over. First

Matt Snyder joins CBS Sports HQ to recap Game 2 of the Wild Card Series between the San Diego Padres and the Chicago Cubs.

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