Machado and Miller star as the Padres beat the Cubs 3-0 in Game 2 of their NL Wild Card Series

CHICAGO (AP/WGN) — Manny Machado hit a two-run homer, Mason Miller dominated again and the San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0 on Wednesday, sending their NL Wild Card Series to a decisive third game.

Jackson Merrill hit an early sacrifice fly as San Diego avoided elimination after losing 3-1 on

Tuesday. Dylan Cease struck out five in 3 2/3 innings before handing the ball to his team’s hard-throwing bullpen.

The finale of the best-of-three series is back at Wrigley Field on Thursday.

The playoff-tested Padres are looking for a repeat of 2020, when they dropped Game 1 in the special pandemic wild-card round before advancing with two straight victories against St. Louis. Machado also homered in Game 2 of that series.

Chicago finished with four hits. The franchise is making its first appearance in the playoffs in five years, and it hasn’t advanced since it eliminated Washington in a 2017 NL Division Series.

San Diego jumped in front on Merrill’s flyball to right off Andrew Kittredge in the first, driving in Fernando Tatis Jr. Kittredge started for Chicago as an opener, and the right-hander was replaced by left-hander Shota Imanaga in the second.

The Cubs threatened in the fourth, putting runners on first and second with two down. Adrian Morejon then came in and retired Pete Crow-Armstrong on a bouncer to first.

The Padres added two more runs on Machado’s 404-foot drive to left off Imanaga in the fifth. Tatis reached on a leadoff walk and advanced on a sacrifice ahead of Machado’s 12th career playoff homer.

The three runs were more than enough for San Diego’s bullpen, with Miller and Robert Suarez combining for 14 pitches of over 100 mph.

Morejon pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings before Miller showed off his electric stuff while striking out five consecutive batters. The 6-foot-5 right-hander reached 104.5 mph on a called third strike to Carson Kelly in the seventh that was the fastest pitch in the postseason since Statcast started tracking in 2008.

Miller, who was acquired in a trade with the Athletics on July 31, struck out the side in the seventh in his postseason debut on Tuesday. The eight straight Ks tied the postseason record set by Josh Hader in 2022.

Miller was pulled from Game 2 after he hit Michael Busch with a slider with two oust in the eighth. Suarez retired Nico Hoerner on a liner to right before a one-hit ninth for the save.

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Yu Darvish will get the ball for San Diego on Thursday. There was no immediate word on Chicago’s starter.

Darvish played for the Cubs for three seasons before he was traded to the Padres in December 2020. The right-hander said he enjoys pitching at Wrigley.

“Yeah, this place did me good,” he said through a translator. “The organization, the fans did me good, too.”

Game 1

On Tuesday, in their MLB postseason debuts, Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly hit back-to-back homers, the franchise’s first set of back-to-back homers in the playoffs since Miguel Montero and Dexter Fowler went deep on Oct. 15, 2016, against the Dodgers.

Padres starter Nick Pivetta struck out nine in five solid innings, but San Diego’s lineup was shut down by Cubs starter Matthew Boyd and four relievers. Chicago’s bullpen worked 4 2/3 perfect innings.

Cubs fans who made the pilgrimage to Wrigleyville on Tuesday described the atmosphere as electric.

WGN’s Mike Lowe made the trip himself and spoke to fans about the excitement of October baseball returning to Chicago.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.