The San Diego Padres have been the best team in baseball since the All-Star break. It looks like they want to keep this ride going for as long as possible.
The Padres beat the Dodgers 4-2 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, with the final three outs coming on a TRIPLE PLAY, officially securing a playoff spot and keeping their hopes of winning the National League West division title alive. That's something they haven't done since 2006.
The Dodgers got on the board first, thanks to Shohei Ohtani and Xander Bogaerts. The Dodgers superstar led off with a double against Michael King (setting a Dodgers franchise record with his 95th extra-base hit of the season) and scored when Mookie Betts hit a routine grounder to shortstop. Bogaerts threw it over Donovan Solano at first base and out of play, allowing Ohtani to score and make it 1-0 L.A.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
In the top of the second, the Friars got that run back plus one. Jackson Merrill singled and came home when Jake Cronenworth hit a rocket into the right field seats off Dodgers starter Landon Knack for a two-run homer and a 2-1 lead.
King did not have his best stuff, but he did what the Padres pitching staff has become known for: He battled through it. A hit, a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, but King whiffed Betts to end the threat. After needing 50 pitches to get through two innings, the big right-hander settled in.
King got through the next three innings in 45 pitches, allowing just one more base runner, to keep L.A. at bay and let his offense keep working.
Local
In the fourth inning, Knack allowed a leadoff double to Jurickson Profar, then struck out Manny Machado and got Merrill to fly out. But, with two outs, this San Diego lineup is extremely difficult to put away. Bogaerts made up for his error with an RBI single to score Profar then Jake the Dodger Killer struck again.
Cronenworth lined a double to left-centerfield for an RBI double and a 4-1 Padres lead. The arms and gloves took it from there.
In the bottom of the fifth, Ohtani hit a flare to left field. Profar was playing deep against the slugger so he had a long way to run straight in and make a fantastic diving catch to take away another hit from the presumptive National League MVP.
From there it was a battle of the bullpens, and in the seventh inning, manager Mike Shildt made a great call: The Dodgers had Ohtani due up third, so, instead of leaving his best arms in their traditional roles, he brought in his usual eighth-inning specialist, Tanner Scott, who's a lefty. It worked brilliantly.
After allowing a leadoff single to Kike Hernandez, Scott got a double play ball from Miguel Rojas and struck out Ohtani with three straight fastballs. In the eighth, Jason Adam came on and got some more help from Profar, who made another outstanding diving catch to rob Betts of extra bases, setting up the ninth inning for Robert Suarez.
The All-Star closer has had a few rough outings of late. This was no exception. Suarez allowed singles to Will Smith and La Jolla Country Day High School alum Tommy Edman, bringing the tying run to the plate with nobody out. Hernandez followed with a broken-bat single, cutting the lead to 4-2. With Ohtani lurking on deck, the improbable happened.
Rojas grounded into an around-the-horn triple play, one of the rarest occurrences in baseball, to end the game.
The Padres became the first team in Major League Baseball to clinch a playoff spot with a game-ending triple play. It's the ninth time the Padres turned a triple play in franchise history.
"Couldn't script that any better,'' Shildt said after the game Tuesday.
"We turn a triple play to end the game, against one of the best teams in baseball?'' Machado said.
San Diego trails the Dodgers by 2.0 games in the division and can pull to within one on Wednesday night with Dylan Cease on the mound against Jack Flaherty in what should be a tremendous pitching matchup. If the Padres sweep they'll have the same record as L.A. but technically be in first place because they won the head-to-head season series.
That would leave one final series in Arizona over the weekend to decide who rules the West and who has to host a best-of-three Wild Card series. No matter what happens this much is certain: San Diego will host October baseball again. Get ready, Friar Faithful. This is gonna be a fun ride.
City News Service contributed to this report — Ed.
