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    MLB wild-card series Day 2: Live updates, lineups, analysis

    IsmailKhanBy 9 Mins Read

    Three games down, three Game 3s forced.

    The Cleveland Guardians kicked off the action by slugging their way to a Game 3 against the Detroit Tigers, followed by the San Diego Padres keeping their season alive with a shutout of the Chicago Cubs. The New York Yankees were the third team of the day to tie their series by eking out a win over the Boston Red Sox.

    Will the Cincinnati Reds stay alive or will the Los Angeles Dodgers send them packing?

    We’ve got you covered with pregame lineups, keys to forcing Game 3, sights and sounds from the ballparks, and postgame takeaways as each Day 2 matchup ends.

    Key links: Megapreview | Day 1 lessons | Bracket | Schedule

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    Sights and sounds | Takeaways | Lineups

    Sights and sounds

    We’ve got you covered with all the best moments from the ballparks on the second day of the playoffs.

    Reds at Dodgers

    Follow live for pitch-by-pitch coverage

    Dodgers take control — and they’re nine outs away from the NLDS

    An UNREAL inning for Yamamoto

    Red strike first in Game 2

    The stars are out in L.A.

    Red Sox at Yankees

    Yankees are feeling themselves after retaking the lead for the win

    Fernando Cruz is hype after getting out of a jam

    Trevor Story has all 3 of Boston’s RBIs — and now it’s 3-3

    Yankee Stadium explodes after a Ben Rice first-pitch home run

    New York is ready for a must-win Game 2

    Padres at Cubs

    Padres players celebrate their Game 2 win

    Mason Miller is bringing the HEAT

    San Diego’s star reliever struck out the side in the seventh inning with some impressive pitches:

    • Strikeout of Seiya Suzuki ended on a 102.7 mph fastball

    • Strikeout of Carson Kelly ended on a 104.5 mph fastball, which is the fastest pitch Miller has thrown in his MLB career, the fastest pitch in a playoff game in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008) and the fastest strikeout pitch in the Statcast era (since 2015)

    • Miller’s four-seam fastball averaged 103 mph, the highest average four-seam velocity in a playoff game in the pitch-tracking era

    Miller’s eight straight strikeouts in this series ties the MLB record for consecutive strikeouts in a single postseason (also done by Josh Hader in 2022).

    Fernando Tatis Jr. jumps for joy after Manny Machado’s blast

    Facing elimination, the Padres strike early

    Tigers at Guardians

    Bring on Game 3!

    Guardians take the lead back and the crowd goes WILD

    We’ve got a tied game in Cleveland!

    Cleveland crowd is excited for top prospect’s first MLB at-bat

    Tanner Bibee gets out of a jam with three straight K’s

    Takeaways

    Series tied 1-1

    Jazz Chisholm Jr. didn’t hide his disappointment after not starting in the Yankees’ Game 1 loss. In Game 2, he played hero. The second baseman, after preventing the go-ahead run from scoring with a diving stop in the seventh inning, worked a walk and dashed from first base to score on Austin Wells’ go-ahead single in the eighth. Chisholm’s two displays of athleticism — on defense and on the basepaths — might have saved the Yankees’ season. — Jorge Castillo

    For the first time in, oh, 21 years, this game felt like an old-school Red Sox-Yankees playoff game — full of emotion, second guessing, clutch hits and big mistakes. Unfortunately, for the Red Sox, they made the two big ones: Jarren Duran had Aaron Judge’s fly ball clank off his glove to allow a run to score (the play was unbelievably scored a hit instead of an error) and then Nate Eaton not scoring from second base when Chisholm Jr.’s throw bounced away from first baseman Ben Rice. Eaton ranks in the 98th percentile in speed and was already rounding third as Chisholm made the throw. Why did he stop?

    On top of that, manager Alex Cora went all-out for the win, pulling starter Brayan Bello after just 28 pitches, which eventually led to using Garrett Whitlock, his second-best reliever, for 47 pitches. With rookie Connelly Early the likely starter, Cora will have to figure out how ]he can piece the innings together in a must-win Game 3 before calling on Aroldis Chapman late in the game. — David Schoenfield

    Series tied 1-1

    Yes, the Padres’ bullpen is great, but the Cubs need to generate more offense or they’re going home for the winter earlier than they’d like. Perhaps their best hope is that San Diego might not be able to pitch Mason Miller in Game 3 after he appeared in Games 1 and 2. He was the talk of both clubhouses after Wednesday’s contest as he consistently lit up the radar gun, striking out five batters one day after striking out three in Game 1. Seemingly everyone in the Cubs’ lineup, save Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly, is slumping right now, though the Padres’ pitching has a lot to do with that over the past two days. Lefties Pete Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch, Ian Happ and Kyle Tucker are a combined 2-for-27 through two games. The Cubs need some damage from that side of the plate when they face righty Yu Darvish on Thursday or their season might end with a thud. — Jesse Rogers

    Manager Mike Shildt couldn’t have drawn up a better script for his Padres in a must-win game: Get a first-inning lead, have Dylan Cease shut down the Cubs for three or four innings, get a big home run from Manny Machado and turn the game over to your flame-throwing bullpen. Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller combined for four scoreless innings, with Miller once again lighting up the radar gun and sending helpless Cubs hitters back to the bench. In two games, he has recorded eight outs — all on strikeouts. One of his pitches today: 104.5 mph, the fourth fastest of the Statcast era. The hope for the Cubs, however, is that Morejon has thrown 42 pitches in two games, and Miller has thrown 40. Will either be available for Game 3? — David Schoenfield

    Series tied 1-1

    After Game 1, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said that every game between his club and the Guardians was like this — close, low-scoring, every run like squeezing blood from a turnip. Game 2 was more bullpen heavy than Game 1 but other than that, Hinch’s observation held up. The Tigers had all kinds of traffic on the bases but could not get a timely hit, and even had a run taken away after a replay overturned the original call. Things got so desperate that Hinch pinch-hit for his best player, Riley Greene, hoping that Jahmai Jones could make contact against nasty lefty Tim Herrin with a runner on third base. Jones stuck out. Finally, the Guardians broke through against Troy Melton in the eighth, and we will have a Game 3. If Hinch knows anything, it’ll be a lot like the first two games. — Bradford Doolittle

    If you’ve wondered how the Guardians reeled off 15 wins in 16 games in September despite a bad offense, their Game 2 win showed how: good enough starting pitching, great bullpen work, some timely hitting (in this case, three home runs, two of them in the eighth inning) and an odd play that went their way. In the top of the fourth, Javier Baez singled with two outs and the bases loaded, seemingly scoring two runs to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Except Zach McKinstry got thrown out at third (after the replay overturned the original call), a split second before Dillon Dingler crossed home plate, so that second run didn’t count. Certainly, a huge blunder by McKinstry, but credit center fielder Chase DeLauter, who made the throw. Oh, and to further show how unconventional this team is: This was not only DeLauter’s first game in the majors after getting added to the postseason roster but his first game of any kind since July 11. Game 3, everyone! — Schoenfield

    Lineups

    9 p.m. ET on ESPN

    Dodgers lead 1-0

    Game 2 starters: Zack Littell vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto

    What the Reds need to do to force Game 3: Well, not allowing five home runs is a good start. Look, this is going to be a difficult game against Yamamoto, who allowed just three runs over his final five starts of the regular season. The best hope for the Reds is a performance where Yamamoto struggles with his control, which rarely occurs but did happen in one September start when he walked six batters. That would lead to a high pitch count and a relatively early exit, allowing the Reds to get into the Dodgers’ bullpen — a unit that was certainly an issue for L.A. throughout the season and didn’t distinguish itself in the late innings of Game 1. — Schoenfield

    Lineups

    Reds

    1. TJ Friedl (L) CF
    2. Spencer Steer (R) LF
    3. Gavin Lux (L) DH
    4. Austin Hays (R) RF
    5. Sal Stewart (R) 1B
    6. Elly De La Cruz (S) SS
    7. Tyler Stephenson (R) C
    8. Ke’Bryan Hayes (R) 3B
    9. Matt McLain (R) 2B

    Dodgers

    1. Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
    2. Mookie Betts (R) SS
    3. Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
    4. Teoscar Hernandez (R) RF
    5. Max Muncy (L) 3B
    6. Andy Pages (R) CF
    7. Enrique Hernandez (R) LF
    8. Miguel Rojas (R) 2B
    9. Ben Rortvedt (L) C

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