San Diego wins 8–0 as King allows one hit over seven innings and Chicago’s errors add to the damage.
Chicago Cubs 0 · San Diego Padres 8
Game date: Sep 29, 2026 · America/Chicago
Published: Oct 14, 2026
Professional · Baseball · MLB
The Padres scored twice before Matthew Boyd finished the first inning, and Michael King made sure the Cubs never supplied an answer. San Diego won the Wild Card opener 8–0 on September 29, placing Chicago one loss from elimination after a game defined by early power and seven innings of one-hit pitching.
Fernando Tatis Jr. homered to center, and Manny Machado followed with a homer to left-center. The Padres had a 2–0 lead before the Cubs had established any offensive response. Machado later doubled in another run, while Xander Bogaerts added a fourth-inning homer.
San Diego finished with 13 hits, including three home runs. Chicago had three hits and struck out 11 times. The difference was not limited to one poor inning by the Cubs' pitchers. The Padres kept adding runs, while Chicago never completed a scoring sequence against King or the two relievers who followed him.
King sets the terms
King worked seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and three walks with eight strikeouts. He threw 97 pitches, giving San Diego both a long start and a lead that stayed intact while its offense continued working.
The walks gave Chicago some opportunities to create pressure without a hit. King prevented those baserunners from becoming runs, and the Cubs did not make enough contact to turn the free passes into a larger sequence. Only one hit arrived during his seven innings.
Nico Hoerner finished with two of Chicago's three hits, while Seiya Suzuki supplied the other and drew a walk. Their contributions were not enough to connect the Cubs' baserunners into a scoring inning. The rest of the lineup went without a hit.
San Diego's offensive work was more widely distributed. Tatis, Machado, Bogaerts, Jackson Merrill and Ty France each recorded two hits. The Padres were generating threats through several places in the order rather than requiring the same hitter to produce every response.
The early power becomes a larger lead
Machado's third-inning double scored Tatis and made it 3–0. Bogaerts homered in the fourth, extending the margin to four. Boyd allowed four runs on five hits and a walk in four innings, striking out four and throwing 58 pitches.
The Cubs then needed their bullpen to stop the scoring and their offense to recover it. Neither requirement was met quickly enough. Javier Assad was charged with three runs, two earned, while recording two outs. San Diego's fifth inning created the largest single change in the score.
Merrill singled to right, scoring Luis Campusano and Machado. France then scored on Carson Kelly's passed ball during an at-bat that ended with Austin Hays striking out. The scoring event belonged to the passed ball, not to an RBI credited to Hays.
That distinction explains how the inning combined successful contact with a defensive mistake. Merrill's two-run single expanded the margin through an offensive hit. The passed ball gave San Diego another run without requiring an additional completed hit.
Aaron Ashby gave Milwaukee three innings without a hit, and the Brewers' two final relievers continued the same result. San Diego did not collect a hit after Robert Gasser left. Milwaukee turned a narrow middle-inning lead into a 3–1 victory on October 7, finishing the NLDS in four games.
DOPE Sports Network Staff · Oct 9, 2026
Jake Cronenworth's fifth-inning homer gave San Diego the lead back moments after Milwaukee had erased it. The Padres then added an unearned run in the sixth and survived the Brewers' final answer, winning NLDS Game 3 by 4–3 on October 6 to avoid elimination.
DOPE Sports Network Staff · Oct 8, 2026
Tatis adds pressure beyond his homer
The Padres' final run came in the seventh. During Dustin Harris' plate appearance, Tatis stole second and scored on Kelly's throwing error. The inning ended with an 8–0 lead, but the run was created through the steal and error rather than Harris' eventual single.
Tatis finished with two hits, a walk and three runs. His opening homer supplied San Diego's first run, Machado's double brought him home again, and his baserunning helped create the last. Machado finished with a double, a homer, two RBIs, two runs and a walk.
Merrill had two hits and two RBIs. Bogaerts added two hits, including his homer. Those lines gave the Padres several ways to score: solo power early, a double with a runner aboard, a two-run single and opportunities converted through Chicago's mistakes.
The bullpens finish different jobs
Ryan Rolison and Jacob Webb worked scoreless relief for Chicago. Aaron Civale allowed one run in his inning. The later clean appearances prevented additional scoring in places, but the Cubs had already conceded enough to require a large offensive recovery.
Yuki Matsui pitched a scoreless inning for San Diego, striking out one. Joe Musgrove worked another, allowing two hits and a walk but no run while striking out two. The Padres' relief group completed the shutout after King had obtained the first 21 outs.
The immediate series result was a 1–0 San Diego lead in a best-of-three matchup. Chicago's next loss would end its postseason. The opener established the reason for that position clearly: King restricted the Cubs' contact, the Padres' power created an early advantage, and later hits and defensive mistakes expanded it before Chicago could score once.
Jackson Chourio's ninth-inning single turned Milwaukee's last chance into its second division-series win. Christian Yelich and Sal Frelick scored on the line drive to center, reversing a 3–2 deficit and giving the Brewers a 4–3 walk-off victory over San Diego on October 4.
