A frustrating end to the contest leads the Astros over the Padres, forcing a rubber match for the series finale 

The San Diego Padres hosted the Houston Astros for Game 2 of a three-game series at Petco Park for the final home stand of the 2024 season. They will now go for the series win on Wednesday night. SD falls to 86-66, and the Astros improve to 82-69.

“This was one of the fun ones,” manager Mike Shildt said postgame. “Back and forth. Lot of strategy. Lot of situations. It was a very entertaining ballgame.”

This series is as important as any as the Padres’ main objective is to close in on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ slim NL West lead, and they are facing a great Astros team. Speaking of the team up north, they lost to the Miami Marlins 11-9 Tuesday night to keep the division lead at 3.5 games.

In this contest, the Astros got the party started as they collectively hit off Michael King in the top of the fourth inning. Jon Singleton singled home Kyle Tucker, and then Jeremy Pena singled, bringing Alex Bregman home. Houston led 2-0.

The bottom of the 6th inning arrived. Fernando Tatis Jr. stepped up to the plate and ripped a 3-2 single just to the right of Pena. After a Profar flyout, Tatis stole second, giving the Padres an opportunity to score with Machado and Merrill next. Machado should have walked to set up Merrill, but instead, home plate umpire Brennan Miller decided to call two balls as strikes, setting up a full count. Guess what happened next?

Machado ripped a two-run shot to left field two pitches later. The ballgame was tied at two.

MANUEL ARTURO MACHADO pic.twitter.com/XQS16IOCja

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 18, 2024

King would go one more inning of work until Jason Adam replaced him in the 8th. Yordan Alvarez doubled with one out in the inning, and then Adam proceeded to balk, moving Alvarez over to third. That balk would cost Adam and the Padres as he would then throw a wild pitch on a full count to Bregman, scoring Alvarez. The Astros led 3-2 as the Padres attempted another comeback.

Tatis doubled to begin the bottom of the 8th, setting the Padres up for a run just as the did in the 6th. Profar moved him over to third with a dribbler, and then Machado struck out swinging. Former Friar Josh Hader would then replace Ryan Pressly, setting up a critical matchup against Merrill.

Before a pitch would be thrown, Miller called Hader for a violation as the pitch clock was winding down. The umpires reviewed with a rule check and it turned out that Hader stepped off beforehand for a disengagement.

That five-minute delay seemed to get into Hader’s head as his very first pitch was wild, scoring Tatis to even the score. A wild pitch for a wild pitch. Merrill would then line out to Hader to end the inning.

Padres’ closer Robert Suarez entered for the ninth to try and keep the game even. He allowed a leadoff double from Pena, but he wouldn’t score. What happened to end that inning was interesting, to say the least. Jose Altuve hit a ball off his foot, but it rolled to Machado for the out. The umpires called him out and Altuve was then ejected after he took his cleat off to show the umpire the ball hit his foot.

You see something new everyday https://t.co/bgBq2JAW0w pic.twitter.com/LPawAY8oPh

— Al Scott (@AlScott1998) September 18, 2024

The Padres failed to score against Hader in the ninth, and they headed to extra innings. Adrian Morejon allowed back-to-back singles to Tucker and Yainer Diaz and the Astros took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the 10th.

Tyler Wade pinch-ran and moved to third after yet another wild pitch from Hector Neris. The Padres had a man on third with zero out and failed to get him in, resulting in a one-run loss.

San Diego is still in great position, 2.5 games ahead of the New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks for the top Wild Card spot.

Hunter Brown

Brown showcased why he is one of the top young pitchers in the game. The Friars struggled to get on base against him outside of the first two innings. After the second inning, he retired 11 in a row through five innings.

After he allowed the homer to Machado, he finished off the inning but would be replaced in the 7th by Bryan Abreu.

Brown’s final line: 6.0 innings, five hits, two earned runs, one walk, and three strikeouts in a no-decision.

Michael King

King returned to Petco after a solid outing in Seattle. He and Brown had similar numbers, but King struck out more hitters and completed seven innings of work. After a rough start, he bounced back keeping his team in the game to the finish. This was one of King’s better outings of the season, and that is really saying something.

His final line: 7 innings, five hits, two earned runs, one walk, and seven strikeouts in a no-decision.

Chris Spiering

Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris is also an athlete and is huge fan of San Diego sports. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and contributes regularly about the Padres.