The Padres use a homer and a fielding error to beat Milwaukee 4–3 despite the Brewers’ 11 hits.
Milwaukee Brewers 3 · San Diego Padres 4
Game date: Oct 6, 2026 · America/Chicago
Published: Oct 12, 2026
Professional · Baseball · MLB
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.
Milwaukee had entered the game ahead 2–0 in the series. San Diego's victory reduced that margin to 2–1 and prevented a sweep. The Padres did it with six hits against the Brewers' 11, converting a productive groundout, an RBI single, Cronenworth's homer and a fielding mistake into the four runs they needed.
The Brewers had more hits and more walks, but did not complete enough scoring opportunities to make those baserunners decisive. William Contreras went 3 for 4 with a homer and two runs, while Christian Yelich added two hits and an RBI. Their production kept Milwaukee close without producing the last run needed to tie the game.
San Diego used five pitchers, including two scoreless innings from Michael King at the finish. Milwaukee also used five, with Antonio Senzatela charged with the unearned run that ultimately separated the teams. The final margin came from both offensive contact and the mistake that allowed the Padres' fourth run.
Tatis grounded out in the third, scoring Samad Taylor and putting San Diego ahead 1–0. Machado then singled in Merrill, extending the lead to two. The Padres had produced a productive out and a run-scoring hit before Milwaukee's offense supplied its first answer.
Dustin May allowed two runs on three hits and two walks over three innings for the Brewers. He struck out three and threw 52 pitches. The early scoring required Milwaukee to chase rather than simply protect the series advantage it had brought to San Diego.
Nick Pivetta worked 4⅓ innings for the Padres, allowing two runs on five hits without a walk and striking out four. He kept San Diego in the lead through the early innings, but Milwaukee's response eventually brought the teams back level.
Contreras homered to left in the fourth, making it 2–1. Chourio's fifth-inning sacrifice fly then scored Pratt and tied the game. The Brewers had repaired the deficit through a solo homer and a productive out rather than needing one multi-run hit.
The tie lasted only until Cronenworth homered to right in the bottom of the fifth. San Diego led 3–2. It was one of Cronenworth's two hits, and it created the next immediate task for Milwaukee's offense.
The Padres added another run in the sixth when Miguel Andujar reached on Pratt's throwing error and Bogaerts scored. San Diego moved ahead 4–2 without requiring another RBI hit. The error changed what Milwaukee's next successful scoring play could accomplish.
Yelich singled in Contreras in the seventh, reducing the deficit to 4–3. Had San Diego not scored the unearned sixth-inning run, that hit would have tied the game. Instead, the Brewers still needed another run after making their latest response.
The sequence is the clearest account of the final margin. Milwaukee repeatedly recovered part or all of a deficit. San Diego supplied another answer through Cronenworth's homer, then gained the additional run through an error. Yelich's RBI single repaired only one of the two runs the Padres had added after the tie.
Contreras had three hits, Yelich two and Pratt two. Frelick, Turang, Hamilton and Ortiz each added a hit. The Brewers also drew four walks. That volume gave them several opportunities to build more than three runs, but the final scoring remained concentrated in three innings.
Contreras' homer supplied the first run, Chourio's sacrifice fly the second and Yelich's single the third. The other hits did not become another completed run-producing sequence. Milwaukee's advantage in contact therefore did not translate into an advantage on the scoreboard.
San Diego had two hits from Cronenworth and one each from Taylor, Merrill, Machado and Bogaerts. Machado also walked. The Padres' six-hit total was smaller, but they converted enough of it through their early scoring and Cronenworth's power to establish a recoverable lead.
The mistake-produced run completed the four. It is important to include that run without treating it as evidence of a Padres RBI hit that did not occur. San Diego benefited from Milwaukee's error and then protected the resulting margin.
Bradgley Rodriguez allowed one run over 1⅓ innings for San Diego. Matsui supplied a scoreless inning, Jason Adam obtained one out and King worked two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks. The Padres' relievers covered the remaining 4⅔ innings after Pivetta.
Their combined work allowed one run, giving San Diego enough run prevention to make the sixth-inning margin last. Milwaukee continued reaching, but the Padres did not concede the hit or productive out needed to bring the score level after Yelich's single. The Brewers struck out nine times, compared with seven for San Diego. Those outs removed chances to use productive contact to advance a runner already aboard. King needed 40 pitches for his final six outs, working around a hit and two walks while preventing any of those baserunners from scoring.
The Brewers received 1⅓ scoreless innings from DL Hall. Senzatela allowed the unearned run in his inning, Uribe worked a scoreless inning and Romero allowed one run in 1⅔. Milwaukee's staff finished with seven strikeouts and two walks, limiting San Diego's total contact without preventing its most consequential scoring events.
The immediate result prevented the Padres' season from ending in a sweep. Milwaukee still held the series lead and needed one more win, while San Diego required two. Game 3 had changed the number of games available without changing which team remained closer to advancement.
The Padres won because Cronenworth answered the tying run, the sixth-inning error supplied insurance and the pitching staff made that insurance necessary. The Brewers' 11 hits kept the contest close. San Diego's smaller set of scoring moments made the difference.
LOS ANGELES — Milwaukee needed only one inning to take back the lead. By the end of the night, the Brewers had taken something considerably larger from the Dodgers: nearly all their room for error.
DOPE Sports Network Staff · Oct 14, 2026
William Contreras had already answered one Dodgers lead when he stepped into the middle of another Milwaukee comeback. His fifth-inning home run brought the Brewers even. His sixth-inning single put them ahead. By the time Aaron Ashby recorded the final out, Los Angeles had exhausted eight pitchers without finding a way to stop Milwaukee from coming back.
DOPE Sports Network Staff · Oct 14, 2026
Milwaukee's four relievers in NLCS Game 2 allowed the Dodgers no hits and no walks over five innings. That line is the simplest way to locate the difference between a game the Brewers repeatedly had to repair and a finish they could control. Once the bullpen took responsibility for the remaining outs, Los Angeles stopped producing baserunners through either of those routes.
