MILWAUKEE — Come October, the Padres were always going to sink or swim with their bullpen, the best in baseball all summer. They haven’t sunk them yet. But they are sinking after a surprising 4-3 loss to the Brewers on Sunday afternoon at American Family Field in Milwaukee. Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio hit a two-run single off San Diego superstar closer Mason Miller, who was one strike away from his first save with six outs as a Padre. Miller loaded the bases in the ninth with three walks, but got ahead of Chourio, who fought his way back into the count. Miller threw a 2-2 fastball and Chourio sent it to center field, just beyond the outstretched glove of Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth. And with that, the Brewers take a 2-0 series lead over San Diego. The Padres, of course, have been a juggernaut at Petco Park this season, with a 53-30 record, including a pair of playoff wins. But they’ll need to win two in a row on Tuesday and Wednesday just to send this series back to Milwaukee for a decisive Game 5 on Friday. In all best-of-five postseason series, teams with an 0-2 deficit won the series only 10 of 93 times (11%). Teams that lost the first two road games in the Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format won the series only three of 36 times (8%). The last time a team rallied from an 0-2 hole in a best-of-five series was in the 2017 ALDS, with the Yankees advancing after losing the first two games in Cleveland. The Padres may have a tough time heading home with three must-win games, but Cronenworth has full confidence in his teammates. “This group has been tested over the last few months,” Cronenworth said. “I wouldn’t pick a better group to have my back against the wall.” But the most agonizing part of these first two games? They could (maybe should) have won both. At least on both occasions, the game was in the hands of their tight bullpen. They wouldn’t want it any other way. Which made the ending incredibly cruel.
