Nine relievers combined on a four-hitter in a brilliant, record-setting effort that sent the San Diego Padres over the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 Friday night in the deciding Game 3 of their NL wild-card series.
The Padres won a postseason series for the first time in 22 years and advanced to face the NL West rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the division series at Arlington, Texas, starting Tuesday.
The nine pitchers marked the most used in a nine-inning shutout in any big league game since 1901. San Diego became the first team in baseball history to use eight or more pitchers in three straight postseason games.
Trevor Rosenthal, who started his career with the Cardinals, struck out the side in the ninth and the Padres began to celebrate in empty Petco Park.
It’s the first postseason series win for the Padres since they beat the Atlanta Braves in the 1998 NLCS and only the second time they’ve won a playoff game at Petco Park, which opened in 2004.