Manny Machado was so, so close to tying things up on Wednesday night.
But thanks to a wild catch from Garrett Mitchell, the Milwaukee Brewers are headed to the NLCS for a second straight season.
Machado, with the Padres down by two runs in the eighth inning on Wednesday night, hit a deep shot to center field. It looked like a home run instantly. Machado stopped and stared from home plate, and Petco Park erupted with the idea that the game was going to be tied up 3-3.
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But Mitchell played it perfectly, and managed to get in front of the ball right at the wall to make the two-handed grab.
“Just got a good read off the bat, got back to the wall as quickly as I could just to get my feet set and made the play,” Mitchell said on Fox after the win. “But great swing by him.”
Machado was, understandably, livid. He ripped his helmet off, and was spotted smashing it repeatedly in the dugout.
The photos from Mitchell’s catch are incredible, too — and show just how close a group of Padres fans were from actually making an impact on the play. Mitchell, remarkably, cut them off just in time.
Garrett Mitchell robbed a game-tying home run from Manny Machado on Wednesday night to help lift the Brewers to the NLCS.
(AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
While the Padres stopped Milwaukee from adding any more runs in the top of the ninth, Machado’s look was their best chance. They failed to tie the game up in the ninth, which ended their season and gave the Brewers the 3-1 win.
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Had Machado’s home run carried even just a little bit further, and it would have been a very different game late. It could have even forced a Game 5 in Milwaukee.
But instead, it’s the Brewers who will get to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS with a shot at a World Series trip on the line. Machado and the Padres, thanks to some heroics from Mitchell, are done.
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