By Pedro Moura
FOX Sports MLB Writer
SAN DIEGO — And as it ended, the skies opened, and rain poured down on this town that sees an average of 10 inches each year.
The seventh inning of this National League Division Series’ fourth game featured two strange rallies, a drone delay and biblical levels of upheaval to this year’s playoff picture. The San Diego Padres began it needing a significant comeback to avoid a bus ride through the night to Los Angeles for a sudden-death Game 5. They ended it headed for the NLCS, their city raucously celebrating around them.
San Diego’s 5-3 win Saturday at Petco Park meant the 111-win Dodgers won only one postseason game.
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The wild thing was the Dodgers actually started their own rally to begin the seventh. Up 2-0 as it began, they managed to add a run without a big hit. They produced a walk, a bunt hit, a hit-by-pitch and a sacrifice fly. That netted one run and put runners on second and third with only one out. From there, though, Max Muncy and Justin Turner could get no more runs home.
Down three runs, the Padres started their seventh with a walk and single against Dodgers reliever Tommy Kahnle. Austin Nola followed by bouncing a ball toward first base, where Freddie Freeman nearly gloved it but could not. That scored a run and spelled Kahnle’s demise. Dave Roberts summoned Yency Almonte, who had been peerless earlier in this series.
Then Ha-Seong Kim slapped Almonte’s fourth pitch down the third-base line, just out of Muncy’s reach. That scored one more and put two runners into scoring position, with no out, for Juan Soto. He swiftly shot a single into right, tying the game.
Up next, needing to put the ball into play to vault his team ahead, Manny Machado instead struck out. Brandon Drury then popped out, and Jake Cronenworth approached.
The man who’d face him, Alex Vesia, had not had much time to warm up. He stood up in the Dodgers’ bullpen only when Drury began to bat, and Drury popped up the first pitch he saw. So Roberts had Almonte throw one pitch to Cronenworth, then signaled to catcher Will Smith to go speak to Almonte to supply a few additional seconds. Only after that did Roberts emerge, slowly, to pull Almonte in favor of Vesia.
Vesia’s first two pitches went for strikes, but not his next two, and Soto stole second without a throw. Cronenworth promptly punched the next into center field for a clean single that scored two.
Cronenworth, his teammates and the crowd went berserk. Not long after, the Padres were headed to the NLCS after a dramatic night of baseball.
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The San Diego Padres rally for five runs in the seventh inning, taking the lead against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLDS.
Expected rain delayed first pitch Saturday by 30 minutes. That rain did not materialize. Thirteen minutes before the previously scheduled first pitch, dozens of Padres staffers emerged to remove the tarp from the field. Fans rabidly cheered. They cheered even louder when Padres starter Joe Musgrove, the hometown kid, found his way to the field for his warm-up.
Musgrove made it six innings in his first postseason start here. He permitted two runs, not factoring into the decision but supplying bulk that enabled the Padres to use their best relievers.
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Joe Musgrove talked with Tom Verducci after the San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to advance to the NLCS.
In his first start as a Dodger, on April 23, Tyler Anderson faced the Padres at Petco Park. Five weeks earlier, the Dodgers had signed him as a depth play, not intending for him to become one of their postseason starters. But after that day in San Diego, he never returned to the Dodgers’ bullpen. Heading into the postseason, the only question about his status was whether he would start Game 3 or 4.
In what could not be described as a vote of confidence, the Dodgers elected to deploy a bullpen game first, then start Anderson in Game 4. He ended up supplying the team’s best start of the series, surrendering some hard contact but traversing five innings without permitting a run.
It did not matter. Behind him, the Dodgers’ bullpen, so effective for the first three games of this series, ran out of steam. From there, their hitters went down with little fight.
Pedro Moura is the national baseball writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the Dodgers for The Athletic, the Angels and Dodgers for the Orange County Register and L.A. Times, and his alma mater, USC, for ESPN Los Angeles. He is the author of “How to Beat a Broken Game.” Follow him on Twitter @pedromoura.
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