The Dodgers scored once in the bottom of the ninth inning to pull within two runs of the San Diego Padres; they had runners on first and second with no outs, Miguel Rojas was up, and Shohei Ohtani was in the on-deck circle, having hit.778 (14 for 18) with five home runs, two doubles, and 13 RBIs in his previous four games.
The Padres appeared to need a divine intervention to keep baseball’s hottest hitter and presumptive National League most valuable player from imposing his will on Tuesday night’s game, and third baseman Manny Machado believes they received one from Peter Seidler, the beloved former Padres owner who died last November.
One pitch after squaring to bunt and taking a strike, Rojas ripped a hard ground ball right at Machado, who took two steps to the bag, touched third, and fired to second baseman Jake Cronenworth, who threw to first base to complete a stunning game-ending triple play that secured the Padres’ 4-2 victory over the Dodgers. “I think he’s been with us all year, he’s shining upon us right now, smiling down, enjoying this moment, enjoying this victory with us, enjoying the celebration,” Machado said after the Padres won a playoff place and cut the Dodgers’ NL West lead to two games with five games remaining.
“In a stressful situation, with Ohtani in the on-deck circle, we turn a triple play against one of the best baseball teams? “He’s looking at us.”
San Diego led 4-1 entering the ninth inning courtesy to Cronenworth’s two-run homer in the second and RBI hits from Xander Bogaerts (single) and Cronenworth (double) in the fourth off Dodgers starter Landon Knack. Padres right-hander Michael King improved to 13-9 with a 2.95 ERA after allowing one unearned run and three hits in five innings, while relievers Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada, Tanner Scott, and Jason Adam combined for three shutout innings.
Closer Robert Suarez, who blew a save by allowing two runs in the ninth inning against the struggling Chicago White Sox last Friday, came on to throw the ninth and gave up singles to Will Smith, Tommy Edman, and Kiké Hernández, the latter a shattered-bat bloop into center field that trimmed the advantage to 4-2.
Ruben Niebla, the Padres pitching coach, approached the mound, and the entire infield swarmed around Suarez. “We’ve been picking each other up all year, and we told Robert on that mound visit, ‘Hey, we got you, man, go out there and keep doing your thing,'” Machado replied. “We did it a few days ago, when he gave it up; we have your back. That’s all this team is about.
What happened next — a game-ending triple play — is so uncommon that it has only occurred 28 times in big league history and three times in the wild-card era, according to big League Baseball researcher Sarah Langs. It was the 10th triple play in Padres history, and the first to close a game.
“That was the perfect play,” Machado added. “We were expecting him to bunt, and he bunted the first pitch. I thought he was going to bunt [again], but he hit a ground ball right at me. Instantly, you know, “Hey, let’s try to turn this around and get out of here.”
When asked if a triple play entered his mind as he planned for Rojas’ at-bat, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts replied, “No, not at all.”
Even after Machado fielded the grounder, “I thought he was going to go from third to first,” Roberts stated.
“We couldn’t have scripted it any better,” Padres manager Mike Shildt explained. “What a play by Manny.”
After a riotous beer-and-champagne celebration in Dodger Stadium’s visiting clubhouse, and long after the home team had left, the Padres reassembled in front of the first base dugout for a team photo, but one major member of the club was absent.
“Manny! Manny! Manny!” they screamed, as up the dugout stairs came a shirtless Machado, wearing just tan slacks. Machado sat down in the front row, leaned back into his teammates’ arms for a few photos, and the Padres returned to the clubhouse for some more fun.
“We are celebrating tonight, but we will return tomorrow with the same energy,” said right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr., after the Padres moved to a major league-best 41-17 since the All-Star break. “I want more of this. We will make it happen. We will just keep arriving as a bunch. This group is special.
“And we are definitely doing it for Peter.”
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