Padres Eliminated from NLCS as They Lose to Phillies in the Rain 4-3

The San Diego Padres won't be going to the World Series this year as they lose to the Phillies in Game 5, 4-3, in Philadelphia Sunday.

Bryce Harper's 2-run, 8th-inning home run gave the Phillies the win in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) to advance to the World Series..

Both teams got great outings from their starting pitchers. The only blemish for Yu Darvish came in the 3rd inning. He issued a 2-out walk to Kyle Schwarber then fell behind Rhys Hoskins 3-0 and grooved one just trying to get a strike. Hoskins jumped all over it and smoked a 2-run home run to left field to put the Phillies on top 2-0. Shortly after that the rain started to fall in Philadelphia.

Juan Soto hit a home run over the left-centerfield wall nearly 440 feet away. The solo blast cut the lead in half but for a while it looked like it would be the only run the Padres would muster.

Then the 7th inning happened. Jake Cronenworth led off with a single to chase Wheeler from the game. Josh Bell ripped a line drive double to right field, bringing home Cronenworth to tie it. Manager Bob Melvin sent in Jose Azocar to pinch-run for Bell.

Dominguez struck out Brandon Drury and Ha-Seong Kim but then his control simply left. He threw a wild pitch to Trent Grisham that allowed Azocar to go to 3rd base, then uncorked another one that let the speedster score with a slide through the mud and a 3-2 San Diego lead. But then Harper hit the home run in the 8th to give the Phillies the win.

The Padres, who won 89 games in the regular season, defeated the top teams in the National League, the New York Mets, who won 101 games, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won 111 games to advance to the NLCS but in the end, they lost to the Phillies who won 87 games in the 2022 regular season, but who beat the Atlanta Braves, who like the Mets, won 101 games during the regular season.

The Padres, who made it to the NLCS for the first time since 1998 when they went to the World Series, open Spring Training in four months on February 24th. The MLB 2023 season starts March 30th.

(Photo Getty Images)