SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jorge Alfaro drew a bases-loaded walk from Craig Kimbrel with two outs in the 10th inning and the San Diego Padres beat the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 on Tuesday night to reduce their magic number for clinching a wild-card berth to four.
The Padres started the winning rally against Kimbrel (6-7) when Kim Ha-seong sacrificed automatic runner José Azocar to third. Juan Soto was intentionally walked, Manny Machado struck out and Brandon Drury walked to load the bases. Alfaro worked the count full before walking to bring in Azocar.
Pierce Johnson (1-1) pitched a perfect 10th, including striking out Mookie Betts for the third out.
The Padres had gone ahead 3-2 in the eighth when third baseman Justin Turner's two-out, bases-loaded error on Drury's broken-bat grounder allowed Trent Grisham to score.
San Diego played some sloppy defense in the ninth to let the Dodgers tie it at 3. Trea Turner hit a leadoff single against Josh Hader and went to third when Ha-seong's error at shortstop allowed Will Smith to reach. Turner scored on Jorge Alfaro's passed ball.
The Padres are closing in on their first playoff berth in a full season since 2006, when they won the NL West for the second straight season. They were aided by the Milwaukee Brewers' 6-2 loss to St. Louis. The Padres hold a 2 1/2-game lead over Philadelphia for the second wild card. The Brewers stayed 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies.
San Diego won a first-round series against the Cardinals after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and then were swept in the Division Series by the eventual World Series champion Dodgers.
The Dodgers remained at 106 wins, one shy of breaking the franchise record.
Padres left-hander Blake Snell pitched five strong innings and left with a 2-0 lead that the bullpen promptly gave up. Nick Martinez loaded the bases with one out in the sixth on a single and two walks before Max Muncy's fielder's choice brought in Trea Turner. It was originally ruled an inning-ending double play but was quickly overturned after a review. Robert Suarez came on and allowed Chris Taylor's tying single.
San Diego gave Snell an early lead against lefty Tyler Anderson. Machado reached on a fielder's choice, Drury doubled to left and Wil Myers bounced a single through the infield to bring them both in.
Anderson then retired his final 16 batters. He allowed two runs and three hits in six innings, struck out three and walked none.
Snell held the Dodgers to one hit while striking out six and walking three.
UMPIRE INTERFERENCE
Betts opened the game with a single and then stole second base, but plate umpire Sean Barber immediately stood up and gestured to call umpire's interference on himself and wave Betts back to first. Replays showed catcher Austin Nola's right elbow hit Barber's facemask as he made the throw. Barber explained the call to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who didn't look happy. Snell then retired the side.
JAIME JARRIN
The Padres presented a plaque to Hall of Fame broadcaster Jaime Jarrín, the Spanish-language voice of the Dodgers, in a pregame ceremony at home plate. Jarrin is retiring after this season, his 64th with the Dodgers. The Padres were represented by Spanish-language broadcaster Eduardo Ortega along with owner Peter Seidler and brother Tom, a team senior vice president, who are members of the third generation of the O'Malley family that once owned the Dodgers.
UP NEXT
Dodgers LHP Julio Urias (17-7, 2.25 ERA) and Padres RHP Joe Musgrove (10-7, 3.12) are scheduled to start Wednesday night in the middle game of the series.
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