SAN FRANCISCO – While the Padres were dressing up for a chilly night at Oracle Park, on the other side of the country the results of two games were being decided.

The Mets beat the Phillies and the Braves beat the Dodgers.

Shortly after the Padres finished their pregame meal – a highly rated, make-your-own stir-fry – the Diamondbacks began their game against the Brewers. The score was updated throughout the evening on the scoreboard behind the left field foul post and ultimately showed a Brewers victory.

The Padres were aware of what was happening.

“When people say they’re not,” Joe Musgrove said earlier in the day, “they’re full of (expletive).”

Yet they say it is not so important what happens elsewhere.

“I don’t think it changes our approach much. … At this point in the year, we know we have to win as many games as possible to advance.”

They went out and played like they believed in it, slamming Giants starter Logan Webb with three runs in the first inning and holding on for a 5-0 victory.

Dylan Cease earned his team-leading 13th win, allowing four hits and striking out 10 in six scoreless innings to surpass 1,000 career strikeouts.

Tanner Scott, Jason Adam and Jeremiah Estrada each delivered a perfect inning to secure the win.

The Padres, who have 14 games remaining, moved into the National League wild-card spot, swapping places with the Diamondbacks, who lead them by a half-game, and maintained their 1½-game lead over the Mets, who occupy the third (of three) wild-card spot, and their 2½-game lead over the Braves.

While the Padres say they aren’t too worried about away results, the part of the scoreboard that has worried them lately has been the section that shows their performance.

They entered Friday’s race having won only six of their last 13 games.

They struck quickly on Friday when Luis Arraez opened the game with a single on the second pitch he saw from Webb and Tatis slammed the second pitch he saw 433 feet and over the center field wall.

The Padres’ third run of the inning came when Manny Machado hit a single with one out, reached second base on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out double by Xander Bogaerts.

The only hits Webb allowed to the next twelve batters he faced were two doubles by Jackson Merrill, but the Padres scored another run after the second of those.

With Merrill on second base with two outs in the fourth inning, Elías Díaz dribbled a ball into the grass in front of the mound, which Webb picked up and threw well over the head of first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr., allowing Merrill to continue his home run and make it 4-0.

Arraez followed with an infield single that gave the Padres runners room at the corners before Tatis was eliminated by a groundout.

Webb had 83 pitches in four innings, which ended his night.

The Padres scored another run in the ninth inning on a single by Profar, a stolen base by pinch-runner Brandon Lockridge and a double by Machado.

Cease had his best start in a month.

He entered Friday with a 5.27 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP in his last five starts. (That was after a seven-start streak in which he had a 1.33 ERA and a 0.74 WHIP.)

His strikeout of Donovan Walton to start the third inning was the 100th of his career. He also struck out the next two batters to end the third inning and managed a groundout and a strikeout to start the fourth inning, extending his streak of outs to 10.

A walk and a single followed before the fourth inning ended when second baseman Jake Cronenworth stopped a hard grounder and threw the ball to Bogaerts, who was covering second base.

His final out came on a double by Patrick Bailey when Tatis picked up the ball at the right field wall and threw it to Cronenworth, who threw it to Díaz, making his second start as catcher for the Padres. Díaz caught the ball in the left batter’s box, turned and dove across the plate to tag out Helio Ramos.

Originally published: September 13, 2024 at 21:49