Padres 4, Cubs 1: Sheets Off the Bench, Sweep at Petco

A walking boot in September. A pinch-hit homer in Game 2.

September 30, 2026 - San Diego - Gavin Sheets spent most of September in a walking boot. Plantar plate tear in his left foot. He wondered if he would contribute at all, the MLB recap said. On Wednesday he pinch-hit in the fourth, heard the three thuds on the Petco Park sound system, and hit a two-run homer to right. The San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs 4-1, swept the National League Wild Card Series, and started planning for Milwaukee.

Partly cloudy. 71 degrees. Wind 6 mph left to right. First pitch 7:10 p.m. Attendance 47,513. The game lasted 2 hours, 50 minutes. San Diego wins the series 2-0. The Cubs scored one run in 18 innings at Petco Park this week.

"You just get ready for that moment, so when it happens you don't feel like it's sped up on you," Sheets said, per MLB.com. "To see this fanbase the whole entire time, I just wanted to get in front of them, I wanted to play."

Bogaerts and Salas in the second. Gausman out in the fourth.

Ty France and Jackson Merrill were on when Xander Bogaerts singled France home in the second. 1-0. Ethan Salas lifted a sacrifice fly. Merrill scored. 2-0. Salas, already the youngest player to catch a postseason game, became the youngest with a postseason sacrifice fly since that stat was fully tracked in 1954, the MLB recap said.

Kevin Gausman lasted 3 1/3 innings: five hits, three earned, no walks, one strikeout, 54 pitches. The Cubs scratched a run in the fourth when Nico Hoerner singled Seiya Suzuki home. 2-1. Ian Happ was on second. That was Chicago's only run of the series after an 8-0 in Game 1.

Craig Counsell went to Daniel Palencia with a runner aboard. Sheets was the next swing. Bogaerts scored with him. 4-1. Palencia was charged with the homer. Gausman took the loss.

Pivetta into the fourth. Then the bullpen that owns October.

Nick Pivetta threw 3 1/3: three hits, one earned, two walks, four strikeouts, 66 pitches. He had the 2-0 and handed a 2-1 game to the group San Diego built for nights like this. Bradgley Rodriguez threw 1 2/3 scoreless for the win: no hits, two strikeouts, one walk. Jason Adam threw a perfect inning. Adrian Morejon threw two scoreless. Mason Miller struck out two in a scoreless ninth for the save. Chicago put five hits on the night and seven men left on base.

The two clubs played 18 innings at Petco Park. The Padres led after 17 of them, the MLB recap said. Chicago scored more runs than any team in the regular season and scored one in this series.

"We just didn't play well enough," Counsell said, per MLB.com. "And they're playing really well."

Thirteen bricks. Two down. Milwaukee next.

Before the champagne, Craig Stammen stood in the middle of the clubhouse. "We had 13 bricks to lay," he said, per MLB.com. "Two down, 11 more to go." The next three will not come this easily. The Brewers own the sport's best record. Jacob Misiorowski, the presumptive NL Cy Young winner, takes Game 1 on Saturday.

"We know who they're throwing Game 1," Bogaerts said. "So let's celebrate today. And then be ready for that fastball."

This was also a reply to last October, when San Diego's season ended in a Wild Card at Wrigley Field. Manny Machado, in his eighth postseason, had already said he had never seen a home crowd like Game 1. Game 2 was quieter until Sheets' swing. Then it was a party with an expiration date. Milwaukee does not care about a walking boot or a pinch-hit.

Merrill went 2-for-3 with a walk, a steal, and a run. Bogaerts went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Fernando Tatis Jr. went 0-for-4 after Tuesday's first-pitch homer. The Padres did not need him to repeat it. They needed one swing from a hitter who almost did not play.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put San Diego at 10 team fantasy points. Morejon had 10 pitching FP on a hold. Miller had 9 with the save. Sheets had 7 hitting FP on one at-bat. That is a 4-1, not Tuesday's 8-0. The board still had the Padres third among four winners.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: MLB.com schedule; MLB Gameday wrap; ESPN scoreboard; ESPN box score; AthX Engine scoring applied to verified box stats. Information only; not financial advice.*