SAN DIEGO -- They packed Petco Park anticipating a party in the Gaslamp on Tuesday night. The Cubs could do little to stop it. The Padres wouldn't let it end.
Three pitches into the top of the first inning, Michael King punched out Pete Crow-Armstrong. The ballpark erupted. Eight pitches later, King had retired the side in order. Louder, still. Leading off the bottom of the first, Fernando Tatis Jr. crushed the first pitch he saw over the center-field wall. Somehow, even louder.
That noise reached a crescendo two batters later, when Manny Machado launched another home run off Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd. The Padres were well on their way to an 8-0 victory in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series. The party in downtown San Diego never stopped.
King would carry a no-hitter into the seventh. By the time Nico Hoerner broke up King’s bid at history with a soft single down the third-base line with one out in the seventh, the Padres had built a 7-0 lead. It was the longest individual postseason no-hit bid since Aníbal Sánchez went 7 2/3 for the Nationals in the 2019 NLCS.
King would allow just that one hit over seven innings -- 28 years to the day that Kevin Brown punched out 16 Astros in the 1998 NLDS. That game is widely regarded as the greatest single-game pitching performance in franchise history. King made a strong case for No. 2.
The game stood in stark contrast to last year’s Wild Card Series between these two teams, which Chicago controlled throughout. Suddenly, the Cubs’ backs are against the wall. And the Padres are one win from a trip to Milwaukee and the NLDS.