San Diego Padres beat Dodgers to secure postseason berth – NBC 7 San Diego

The San Diego Padres have been the best team in baseball since the All-Star break, and it looks like they want to continue that success 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, to officially clinch a playoff spot and keep alive their hopes of winning the National League West division title, something they haven't done since 2006.

The Dodgers took the lead first thanks to Shohei Ohtani and Xander Bogaerts. The Dodgers superstar hit a double off Michael King first (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 the ball over Donovan Solano at 1st base and out of play, allowing Ohtani to score and make it 1-0 LA.

In the second, the Friars got that run back, plus one. Jackson Merrill hit a single and came home when Jake Cronenworth hit a rocket into the right-field seats against Dodgers starter Landon Knack for a 2-run home run and a 2-1 lead.

King wasn't at his best, but he did what Padres pitchers are known for: He battled through. A hit, a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases in the second inning, but King struck out Betts and ended the threat. After needing 50 pitches to get through two innings, the big right-hander got going.

He managed the next three innings of 45 pitches and allowed only one more baserunner to keep LA in check and continue to give his offense room to maneuver.

In the 4th inning, Knack allowed a leadoff double by 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 beat. Bogaerts made up for his mistake with an RBI single that scored Profar, and then Jake The Dodger Killer struck again.

Cronenworth hit a double to left-center field for an RBI double and a 4-1 lead for the Padres. From there, the arms and gloves took over.

In the bottom of the 5th inning, Ohtani hit a flare into left field. Profar was standing deep against the bat, giving him a long way to run right in and make a fantastic pike catch that took another hit from the presumptive National League MVP.

From there, it was a battle of the bullpens and in the 7th inning, Mike Shildt made a great decision. The Dodgers had Ohtani on as the 3rd baseman, so instead of leaving his best pitchers in their traditional roles, he brought in his usual 8th inning specialist, Tanner Scott, who is left-handed. It worked out great.

After allowing a leadoff single to Kike Hernandez, Scott got a double play ball from Miguel Rojas and struck out Ohtani with three consecutive fastballs. In the 8th inning, Jason Adam came on and got more help from Profar, who made another excellent pike catch to rob Betts of extra bases, setting up the 9th inning for Robert Suarez.

The All-Star closer has had a few rough outings of late. This was no exception. Suarez allowed singles from Will Smith and La Jolla Country Day High School graduate Tommy Edman to bring the tying point to the plate without anyone being struck out. Hernandez followed with a broken-bat single to cut the lead to 4-2. With Ohtani lurking, the improbable happened.

Rojas hit an around the horn triple play, one of the rarest occurrences in baseball, to end the game.

San Diego trails the Dodgers by 2.0 games in the division and can get within one game on Wednesday night when Dylan Cease takes on Jack Flaherty on the mound. This should be a great pitching matchup. If the Padres win, they'll have the same record as LA, but are technically in first place because they won the season series head-to-head.

That would leave one final series in Arizona this weekend that would decide who dominates the West and who has to host a best-of-three wildcard series. Whatever happens, one thing is certain:

San Diego will be hosting baseball again in October. Get ready, Friar Faithful. It's going to be a fun trip.