The San Diego Padres dropped Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series 3-1 to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.
Padres right-hander Nick Pivetta got the nod to start and dazzled early, striking out five Cubs hitters his first time through the lineup.
San Diego went down 1-2-3 to open the game, but a leadoff double by centerfielder Jackson Merrill set up a Xander Bogaerts double to left-center field to score the game’s first run. Bogaerts would advance to third on a throwing error by Pete Crow-Armstrong with no outs, but Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd escaped further damage.
Chicago couldn’t catch up to the high heat for four innings, striking out six times and recording just one hit by second baseman Nico Hoerner in the first inning.
That was until the fifth inning, when right fielder Seiya Suzuki demolished a 94 mile-per-hour fastball 424 feet to tie the game. Catcher Carson Kelly would go back-to-back with Suzuki, taking a 2-1 lead before Pivetta struck out the next three batters to end the inning and his outing.
Pivetta threw 85 pitches over five innings and allowed two runs on two hits. He struck out nine and didn’t walk a batter.
Boyd pitched 4.1 innings and exited after just 58 pitches. He allowed one run on four hits and struck out two batters with one walk.
The Padres bullpen was lights-out all season long, but lefty Adrian Morejon wasn’t sharp early in his outing. Chicago had runners on first and second base with no outs before left fielder Ian Happ grounded into a double play and designated hitter Kyle Tucker popped up the first pitch he saw.
The Cubs bullpen was flawless, not allowing a single runner to reach base over 4.2 innings and recording four strikeouts.
San Diego right-hander Mason Miller struck out the side in the seventh inning, keeping the deficit at one run before Hoerner hit a sac fly off of former Cub reliever Jeremiah Estrada in the eighth, providing the final dagger. San Diego went down relatively quietly against Brad Keller in the ninth.
Although the season is on the line Wednesday, San Diego still has a chance to come back and have done it before.
According to MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell, a team has rallied back from being down 0-1 in a best-of-three Wild Card Series twice in 20 attempts, with the 2020 Padres being one of them.
Righty Dylan Cease will look to keep the season alive for San Diego in Game 2. Right-handed reliever Andrew Kittredge, who pitched a scoreless inning in Game 1, will start Game 2 for Chicago.