The San Diego Padres<\/a> advanced to the Division Series after a 4\u20131 victory over the Chicago Cubs<\/a> in Game Two of the 2026 NL Wild Card Series Wednesday night at Petco Park in San Diego. Ty France<\/a><\/strong> went 2-for-4 with a double and scored the game\u2019s first run, Xander Bogaerts<\/a><\/strong> went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and Gavin Sheets<\/a><\/strong> blasted a two-run pinch-homer to pace the host Padres and eliminate the Cubs.<\/p>\n The Padres took a 2\u20130 lead in the second after a Ty France double followed by a swinging-bunt single by Jackson Merrill<\/a><\/strong>. Merrill stole second as Xander Bogaerts, up next, batted. Bogaerts ultimately singled to right, driving in France, before an Ethan Salas<\/a><\/strong> sacrifice fly to deep center brought in the other run.<\/p>\n The Cubs scored their first run of the game and the series in the top of the fourth off Padres starter Nick Pivetta<\/a><\/strong>. Seiya Suzuki<\/a><\/strong> led off with a single and walk, respectively, to set the table for Nico Hoerner<\/a><\/strong>. Hoerner poked a single up the middle that scored Suzuki and knocked Pivetta out of the game in favor of reliever Bradgley Rodriguez<\/a><\/strong>. The Padres answered in the bottom half, with a one-out Bogaerts double knocking Cubs starter Kevin Gausman<\/a><\/strong> out of the game. Two batters later, Gavin Sheets \u2014 hitting for Austin Hays<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 turned on a 101-mph Daniel Palencia<\/a><\/strong> fastball for a loud two-run homer into the right-field seats.<\/p>\n David Peterson<\/a><\/strong> and Ryan Zeferjahn<\/a><\/strong> combined for three scoreless innings of relief for the Cubs, striking out three and walking one. The Padres sent their gauntlet of relief assassins out after Rodriguez, with Jason Adam<\/a><\/strong> and Adrian Morejon<\/a><\/strong> tossing one and two scoreless innings, respectively. Closer Mason Miller<\/a><\/strong>, the top closer in the NL by virtually any metric, struck out two of the four batters he faced in a scoreless ninth. When Cubs catcher Carson Kelly<\/a><\/strong> grounded to short, it was time for the Friar Faithful to celebrate. Their beloved Padres had advanced to the Division Series.<\/p>\n The Padres batted 3-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Additionally, they only stranded two runners in scoring position out of the five total runners they left on base.<\/p>\n Rodriguez, Adam, Morejon, and Miller combined for 5 2\/3 scoreless innings of relief. The quartet collectively allowed two hits, walking one and striking out two. Only once did a runner even reach second base against them, and that came on Hoerner\u2019s ninth-inning double. Additionally, the four never allowed more than one Cub to reach base in any single inning.<\/p>\n Yes, Pivetta only gave up one run, but if the Padres are going to make a deep postseason run, their starting pitchers must last longer than 3 1\/3 innings. Facing only 15 batters simply isn\u2019t going to cut it. The Padres have terrific relievers, yes, but they aren\u2019t robots, so this cannot become the norm. In recent postseasons, relief pitchers throughout the league have run out of bullets, and overuse has been a factor. The Padres must do all they can to avoid that.<\/p>\n Like Game One, very little. One positive for the Cubs was that they didn\u2019t allow any first-inning runs, but that is small solace.<\/p>\n Gausman only lasted 3 1\/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out one.<\/p>\n The Cubs managed five hits in the game, a small improvement over their three from Game One. However, only one came with a runner in scoring position.<\/p>\n Likely NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong<\/a><\/strong> and Alex Bregman<\/a><\/strong> combined to go 0-for-8 Wednesday night. In the two-game series, they combined to go 0-for-15 with a walk, that coming from Crow-Armstrong in the third inning of Game One.<\/p>\n Padres manager Craig Stammen<\/a><\/strong> told reporters in the postgame press conference the Padres had \u201cmarked\u201d them as guys they didn\u2019t want to beat them in the series. \u201cOur pitchers stuck to the game plan that we had with them,\u201d Stammen explained. \u201cThey executed pitches. That’s what it always comes down to is just executing what they have and not trying to do something out of what they have. They did a good job staying within themselves and being able to make pitches against those two guys.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoerner\u2019s one-out double off Miller in the ninth was the only extra-base hit the Cubs managed all series.<\/p>\n \u201cTy’s been a great player for us all season. Unsung hero, but has really had the best offensive season of anybody on our team. He continues to come up with big hits in big spots. He’s really good against lefties and righties. He fits really good right behind Manny in the lineup and in front of Jackson. Without him, we wouldn’t be here, there’s no doubt about that.\u201d \u2014 Padres Manager Craig Stammen<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThis is at the top. Yeah, this was \u2014 this was special. To do it, obviously, at home in this setting and on a night where we clinched. Obviously, this is just the beginning of the steps that we want to take in this postseason.\u201d \u2014 Gavin Sheets on His Pinch-Homer<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cMilwaukee has been the best team all year. It’s going to be a very tough series, five-game series against them. We’re going to have to play our best, just like we did against the Cubs, to knock them out.\u201d \u2014 Padres Manager Craig Stammen on their Division Series Opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers<\/em><\/p>\n Salas, at the age of 20 years and 121 days, because the youngest player to ever play catcher in a postseason game. He broke a record held by Bob Didier<\/a><\/strong>, who was 20 years and 230 days old when he caught Game One of the 1969 NLCS for the Atlanta Braves<\/a>. Didier\u2019s Braves bowed to the New York Mets<\/a> in a three-game sweep. The \u201cMiracle Mets\u201d went on to shock the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles<\/a>, four games to one, for their first World Series championship.<\/p>\n The 100.8-mph pitch that Gavin Sheets sent to the seats was the fastest pitch any Padre hit for a homer since the \u201cpitch tracking\u201d era began in 2008.<\/p>\n Rodriguez earned the win in relief, with Gausman taking the loss. Miller notched the save.<\/p>\n The Padres advance to take on the top-seeded Milwaukee Brewers<\/a> in the NL Division Series. Game One will be in Milwaukee Saturday at 5:30 pm Pacific\/7:30 pm Central. Jacob Misiorowski<\/a><\/strong> (16\u20135, 1.80 ERA in the 2026 regular season) will start for the Brewers, and the Padres will announce their starter later in the week.<\/p>\nPadres \u2013 Cubs Game Summary<\/h3>\n
What Went Right for the Padres<\/h3>\n
Timely Hitting<\/h4>\n
Shutdown Relief<\/h4>\n
What Went Wrong for the Padres<\/h3>\n
What Went Right for the Cubs<\/h3>\n
What Went Wrong for the Cubs<\/h3>\n
Ineffective Starting Pitching<\/h4>\n
Struggled to Hit<\/h4>\n
No Slug<\/h4>\n
Quotes<\/h3>\n
Quick Hits<\/h3>\n
Looking Ahead<\/h3>\n
Main Photo:<\/h4>\n