SAN DIEGO — San Diego's No. 1 prospect Ethan Salas delivered the decisive swing in extra innings, lining an 0-2 four-seamer into center field for a walk-off to cap a comeback from a 5-1 deficit against the Miami Marlins. The Padres had rallied to take a one-run lead into the ninth before closer Mason Miller, tasked with recording five outs, surrendered the game-tying home run to force extras.
David Morgan steadied the game in the 10th, striking out the first two batters before inducing a lineout to end the inning. With Jake Cronenworth taking third base on a wild pitch, Salas stepped in with one goal to put the ball in play and delivered the winner. At 20 years, 110 days, Salas became the youngest player to walk off a game since Manny Machado did so in 2012 at 20 years, 69 days. The win dropped San Diego's magic number to three after the Arizona Diamondbacks walked off the New York Yankees, and the Padres will go for the sweep today with a chance to take the top spot in the NL Wild Card should the Chicago Cubs lose.
The extended night taxed the pitching staff. Starter Casey Mize got through just three innings, forcing San Diego to use six pitchers to finish the game. Randy Vásquez covered two frames before Bradgley Rodriguez, Yuki Matsui, Adrian Morejon, Miller and Morgan covered the final five innings. That leaves Griffin Canning, Kyle Hart and Wandy Peralta as the only readily available arms for the series finale, all low-leverage options, putting added importance on starter Walker Buehler to work deep.
The finale pits Buehler against Miami right-hander Sandy Alcantara. Alcantara has been durable with 206 innings, a 3.84 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP, with 149 strikeouts, well off his NL Cy Young-winning form from 2022. He has struggled lately with a 5.86 ERA over his last seven appearances, including seven runs allowed in 4 1/3 innings against the New York Mets with three home runs surrendered. Buehler has logged 143 1/3 innings with a 4.58 ERA and, apart from Michael King, has been San Diego's most valuable arm on availability alone. He carries a 3.09 ERA over his last seven starts and since July 21 has not allowed more than three runs in any of his 11 appearances, holding opponents to two or fewer in all but two of them.
San Diego's offense enters hot, scoring six or more runs in nine of its last 10 games and seven or more in eight of those contests. Xander Bogaerts is expected to return after an off day Saturday night and owns a .429 average with a 1.072 OPS in 14 career at-bats versus Alcantara, trailing only Machado's .600 average and 1.334 OPS in 15 at-bats against the Marlins starter.