Fastball

San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves Make Baseball History Not Seen in Last 28 Years

The Padres have a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series, but it's the way they got that lead that's historic.

Brady Farkas

San Diego Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) bats against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning at Chase Field on Sept 27.
San Diego Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) bats against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning at Chase Field on Sept 27. / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
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The San Diego Padres took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three National League wild card series on Tuesday night.

San Diego got a dominant pitching performance from Michael King in the 4-0 win, which puts them just one win away from a trip to the NLDS over the weekend.

Offensively, San Diego was powered by Fernando Tatis Jr., who hit a first-inning home run.

The fact that the Padres won is not surprising, but the way in which they won was.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

Braves-Padres took 2 hours & 9 minutes

that’s the fastest postseason game since 1996 NLDS G2, ATL at LAD — Greg Maddux vs Ismael Valdez, 2:08

Obviously baseball has been sped up by the pitch clock over the last two seasons, but that's still a blazing fast game. And it's what happens when someone has a night like King did on the mound. The right-hander went 7.0 scoreless innings, scattering five hits. Most importantly, he walked none and struck out 12, which contributed to the swiftness of play. He only needed 89 pitches, showing that he was economical and in control all night.

The two teams will play again on Wednesday night with first pitch coming at 8:38 p.m. ET. Braves left-hander Max Fried will get the ball against Padres' righty Joe Musgrove.

Fried went 11-10 this season with a 3.25 ERA. He's a free agent at the end of the year, so this could be his final game for the Braves.

Musgrove dealt with injury this season but was 6-5 with a 3.88 ERA.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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