Let's do a little multiple choice. The 1st inning of Saturday night's Game 4 of the National League Championship Series between the Padres and Phillies at Citizens Bank Park was:
A) 48 minutes long
B) The first time since 1932 neither starting pitcher made it out of the 1st inning
C) The third time in postseason history both teams scored at least three runs in the 1st inning
D) All of the above
If you answered D, congratulations! And that was just the start of the shenanigans. When the dust had settled the Phillies outslugged the Padres 10-6 to take a 3-1 series lead in the best-of-7 NLCS, putting San Diego on the brink of elimination.
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The Phillies sent lefty Bailey Falter to the mound for his first career playoff appearance. He got the 1st two hitters, then Manny Machado unloaded on the first pitch he saw, launching his 4th home run of the playoffs into left field and touching off the wackiness. It was Manny's 6th playoff homer as a Padre, the most in franchise history, and his 4th of this playoff run, tying him with Jim Leyritz for the most a Friar has ever hit in a single postseason.
Josh Bell followed with a single and Jake Cronenworth walked. They both scored on a double from Brandon Drury that chased Falter from the game after two-thirds of an inning. Ha-Seong Kim greeted new pitcher Connor Brogdon with a single to score Drury and the Padres had a 4-0 lead.
Mike Clevinger could not keep it intact.
If You Can't Get Enough Padres
In what might be his final start in a San Diego uniform, Clevinger served up a single to Kyle Schwarber then missed location badly and Rhys Hoskins ripped a 2-run homer to left to cut the lead in half. Then things really got bad for Clev.
He walked J.T. Realmuto, who scored on a line shot double by Bryce Harper that made it 4-3 and ended Clevinger's night. He allowed four runs without recording an out. Nick Martinez saved the day, getting a groundout and two punchouts to end the highest scoring 1st inning in playoff history (interestingly, the other time seven runs were scored was in Game 3 of the 1993 World Series when the Phillies scored four and the Blue Jays plated three).
Martinez retired all nine batters he faced as the scoring dried up for a bit. He was replaced by Sean Manaea, who had not appeared an a postseason game this year. He gave up a double to Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott lined a base hit to left to score Castellanos and tie it up. Jurickson Profar made a fabulous throw to cut down Stott at 2nd base and help end the inning.
In the 5th inning Juan Soto's power finally showed up. The slugger detonated a 2-run homer to right off former Padres All-Star Brad Hand to put the Friars back on top 6-4. Alas, manager Bob Melvin left Manaea out too long. Sean walked Schwarber then served up a monster 2-run homer to Hoskins to tie it 6-6. At that point he was probably done. Instead he walked Realmuto and gave up a long double to Harper that put Philly back on top 7-6.
It was at this point Melvin brought in Luis Garcia and you got a real good feeling the baseball gods were not on the Padres side. Castellanos hit a grounder up the middle. Cronenworth was there to field it but the ball hit the bag at 2nd base and popped over his head, allowing Harper to score. The breaks were going the Phillies way and they didn't stop.
In the 6th inning Schwarber unloaded on his 3rd home run of the series, a solo blast to straightaway centerfield off Garcia to pump the lead up to 9-6. In the 7th inning Realmuto smoked another bomb off Steven Wilson to make it 10-6. The Padres offense is not built to win shootouts so when that ball flew over the fence it was time to start looking to Sunday.
Yu Darvish and Zack Wheeler will be back at it in a rematch of Game 1, which the Phillies took 2-0. The Padres have to win that one, then the next two on Monday and Tuesday at Petco Park, or their miracle run will be over.
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