Padres sweep Cubs in Wild Card Series, head to Milwaukee for the NLDS

It took the Padres two nights at Petco Park to get past the Cubs. San Diego won Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series 8-0 on Tuesday, Sept. 29, then closed it out 4-1 on Wednesday in front of 47,513 fans.

Game 1 turned early. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the bottom of the first with a home run — ESPN noted it was the first leadoff homer in Padres postseason history — and Manny Machado went deep later in the inning. Xander Bogaerts added a solo shot in the fourth. Michael King carried a no-hitter into the seventh before Nico Hoerner beat out an infield single, and Joe Musgrove, the San Diego native pitching for the first time in roughly two years after Tommy John surgery, finished the shutout. Chicago managed three hits.

Game 2 was tighter. Bogaerts drove in the first run with a single, and 20-year-old catcher Ethan Salas, the youngest player to catch a postseason game for the Padres, drove in another. The big swing belonged to pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets, who hit a two-run homer on a 100.8 mph fastball from Cubs reliever Daniel Palencia. Five Padres pitchers held the Cubs to five hits; Bradley Rodríguez got the win and Mason Miller the save.

Across the two games, the Cubs had eight hits in 18 innings. The Padres now meet the Milwaukee Brewers, who finished 103-59 with the best record in the majors, in the NL Division Series, which is scheduled to open Saturday in Milwaukee.