MLB Division Series Roundup: Padres Stay Alive, Dodgers Put Braves On Brink

The Dodgers took control of their NL Division Series on Tuesday night, and the Padres ensured they’ll have one more game – and another chance to rock out to “All The Small Things.” 

In Atlanta, Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out a postseason career-high 10 in seven innings as Kiké Hernández and Freddie Freeman homered in the same inning against Braves ace Chris Sale for a 3-1 Los Angeles win. The Dodgers lead the series 2-1 and are one win from the NLCS in their bid for a third straight World Series title.

In San Diego, Jake Cronenworth hit a solo shot and Xander Boegarts scored on a throwing error to help the Padres beat the Brewers 4-3. That means the Brewers, who lead the series 2-1, will try to advance on Wednesday to their second straight NLCS. 

In the AL, Wednesday brings the ALDS Game 3s, with the White Sox and Rays each up 2-0 and the Guardians and Yankees on the brink.

Here is what stood out from Day 4 of the MLB Division Series:

Every game in the Brewers vs. Padres series has been a nail-biter, and Game 3 in front of a raucous and packed Petco Park in San Diego proved no different. 

With clutch hits and some beautiful defensive plays, we kind of don’t want this series to end. Thankfully, we’ll have a Game 4 as the Padres held onto a 4-3 win. In fact, every game in this series has been decided by one run.

The deciding moment was a wacky play in the bottom of the sixth inning when baserunner Xander Bogaerts showed off some nifty athleticism by avoiding the barrel of Miguel Andojar’s broken-bat grounder. Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt’s errant throw to first was bobbled by Jake Bauers, allowing Bogaerts to scoot home. 

Kudos to Padres pitcher Michael King, as well, who came in the eighth inning in relief to earn his first save since 2023 when he was with the Yankees. He showed some guts in the ninth when he got the Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich to ground out into a double play to secure the win. 

There will be some sighs of relief across the Gaslamp Quarter tonight as the Padres will try to stave off elimination once again on Wednesday. 

Kiké Hernández was the surprise of a lineup Dave Roberts shuffled before first pitch to counter Sale. 

Making his first start of the playoffs, Hernández came up in the fourth inning after Andy Pages singled and turned on a Sale changeup that stayed up, driving it into the left-field seats for a two-run homer to put the Dodgers ahead.

It was his 12th postseason homer as a Dodger and the 17th of his postseason career, and it raised the Dodgers’ win probability by nearly 21%.

Freeman followed one out later with a solo shot to right, his 18th career postseason homer, for a 3-0 lead. Freeman had been robbed an inning earlier when Mauricio Dubón made a leaping catch at the left-field wall. 

Sale, who had dominated the Dodgers earlier in the season, was gone after allowing three runs on seven hits in five innings. Hernández has a long record as a postseason hitter, and his homer was the swing that put the Dodgers in position for a series lead. 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his first postseason appearance since closing out Game 7 of last year’s World Series, and he looked like the MVP of that series. He struck out 10 in seven innings, a postseason career high that passed his previous mark of nine in Game 2 of last year’s NL Wild Card Series, and he allowed just four hits, one walk and one run. 

The Dodgers hadn’t used him until Game 3, starting lefties Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell against the Braves in Games 1 and 2.

The Braves loaded the bases with one out in the fifth and scratched a run across on Drake Baldwin’s groundout, but Yamamoto was otherwise in complete control. “I was feeling really good with my fastball,” he said. 

He is the first Dodger with a postseason start of seven-plus innings, 10 strikeouts and one run or fewer since Snell in Game 1 of the 2025 Wild Card, and the third Japanese-born