The Padres beat the Marlins in dramatic fashion on Saturday night, as Ethan Salas collected his first career walk-off hit to reduce San Diego's magic number to 3 and keep pace with the Cubs in the NL wild card race for homefield advantage. Casey Mize struggled mightily, allowing five hits and five walks in just three innings, which turned into five earned runs. The Padres never gave up however, clawing their way back into the game. Trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the 3rd inning, Jake Cronenworth drew a walk with the bases loaded, Ty France came around to score on a balk with the bases loaded, and then Samad Taylor drove in the third run of the inning with a deep sac-fly, making it 5-4. Fernando Tatis Jr. blasted a solo homer to straight away center in the 4th inning to tie it up, and France put the Padres on top 6-5 with an RBI-double in the 6th. Adrian Morejon got out of a jam with 2 on and 2 out in the 7th by striking out Augustin Ramirez, and came back out to pitch the 8th. After a strikeout to begin the inning, he walked Esteury Ruiz, who then stole second and third base. A walk to Otto Lopez put runners on the corners with just one out and a one run lead, and Craig Stammen decided to bring in Mason Miller for a five-out save. Miller struck out the next two batters to escape the jam and head to the 9th inning. In the bottom of the 9th with one out, Griffin Conine hit a pinch-hit game-tying solo home run off of Miller, and the Padres were unable to respond in the bottom of the 9th, sending the game to extra innings. David Morgan pitched brilliantly in the top of the 10th, striking out the first two batters he faced, issuing an intentional walk to Otto Lopez, and then getting Heriberto Hernandez to line out to center to strand both runners on base. Sung-Mun Song led off the bottom of the 10th, and while attempting to lay down a sac-bunt, Jake Ekness threw a wild pitch, allowing Jake Cronenworth to advance to third base. Song would ultimately strike out, setting the stage for 20-year old Ethan Salas, who would pinch-hit for Freddy Fermin. Down 0-2 in the count, Salas singled back up the middle to drive in the game-winning run and send the crowd into a frenzy. The Padres will try to finish off a sweep of the Marlins on Sunday.
You can watch the Jamul Casino Resort Padres Postgame Show below, with full highlights from the game and Craig Stammen's postgame press conference.
