LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers’ season ended Saturday evening with a 5-3 loss to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park to lose a National League Division Series three games to one in one of the greatest postseason upsets in baseball history.
The Dodgers won a franchise-record 111 games in the regular season, 22 more than the Padres. The only greater difference in victories for a postseason series winner was the 1906 Chicago White Sox who defeated the Chicago Cubs in the World Series after winning 23 fewer games in the regular season.
The Dodgers led 3-0 entering the seventh inning, then allowed five runs.
Tommy Kahnle, the third Dodger pitcher, entered the game in the bottom of the seventh. He walked the first batter he faced, Jurickson Profar. The next batter, Trent Grisham, hit Kahnle’s first pitch for a single, advancing Profar to third.
Austin Nola, the ninth batter in San Diego’s lineup, hit a ground ball that went off the glove of Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers’ first baseman, for an infield single, driving in Profar, with the Padres’ first run.
Yency Almonte replaced Kahnle. The first batter he faced, Ha-Seong Kim, hit a 2-1 sinker for a double, driving in Grisham and advancing Nola to third.
The Padres tied the score, 3-3, on Juan Soto’s single that drove in Nola.
Manny Machado struck out for the first out and Brandon Drury fouled out to Freeman for the second out.
Almonte fell behind Jake Croneworth 1-0 and manager Dave Roberts opted to replace him with Alex Vesia. Soto was credited with a stolen base when catcher Will Smith did not throw to second base. Jake Croneworth hit the next pitch for single, driving in Kim and Soto.
Robert Suarez, the fifth Padres pitcher, retired the Dodgers in order in the eighth. Josh Hader struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth, ending the game by striking out Freddie Freeman on three pitches for his third postseason save in three postseason save opportunities in 2022.
Almonte was charged with the loss, allowing two runs and two hits in two-thirds of an inning.
Tim Hill, the third San Diego pitcher, was credited with the victory, retiring both batters he faced in the seventh.
Dodger starter Tyler Anderson pitched five shutout innings, allowing two hits. He struck out six and walked two.
Padres starter Joe Musgrove allowed two runs and six hits over six innings, striking out eight and walking three.
The Dodgers opened the scoring in the third when Freeman doubled in Mookie Betts, who walked, and Trea Turner, who doubled.
The Dodgers added a run in the seventh. Steven Wilson issued a full- count walk to Betts, the first batter he faced. Betts moved to second on a wild pitch and third on Trea Turner’s bunt single. Freeman was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Will Smith followed with a sacrifice fly.
The victory advances the Padres to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 1998 where they will face the Philadelphia Phillies beginning Tuesday at Petco Park.
