Padres’ Mike Shildt perfectly sums up Game 1 loss to Cubs

This was the blueprint. Drag the Cubs’ lefty starter into deep counts, pry open the middle innings, and let the San Diego Padre’s bullpen turn leverage into rope. For nearly five frames, it looked exactly like something the Padres’ analysts would’ve sketched on a whiteboard: low scoring, tight margins, every pitch heavy.

But the flip side of that plan — the part everyone’s tiptoed around all year showed up at the worst time. The Padres don’t lack stars; they’ve just lacked thunder. When the contact-first approach doesn’t stack traffic, the margin gets razor thin. And in October, “almost” doesn’t pay. Game 1 became the most predictable loss imaginable: San Diego got the script it wanted and still watched the offense vanish when it mattered.

Padres get the game they wanted vs. Cubs, then fall 3-1 with no late hits

San Diego even nailed the early checkpoint. The Padres chased Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd after just 58 pitches and 4 1/3 innings, forcing Chicago to open the bullpen door before the fifth was even in the books. That should’ve unlocked favorable matchups for a lineup that’s lived on quality contact and situational hitting. Instead, the Padres finished with four scattered hits and only one run before Boyd departed — and then nothing after that. Asked about the missed opportunities against Boyd, manager Mike Shildt said what every Padres fan was thinking: “We let him off the hook.”

Nick Pivetta did his job and then some, carving through Chicago for five innings of two-run ball on three hits with nine strikeouts. He looked like an ace calibrating for October. But then the damage came fast and loud: back-to-back homers in the fifth that flipped a 1–0 lead into a 2–1 deficit and ended his outing.

From there, Shildt worked the ladder as advertised. Mason Miller’s seventh was a neon sign for why the Padres believed this formula could carry — he struck out the side in a ferocious postseason debut that felt like a declaration. Jeremiah Estrada’s eighth was messier, and many will circle that frame as the hinge point. But if we’re honest, that’s not the story of a 3–1 game. The story is that the offense never cashed the plan the pitching staff bought.

Credit the Cubs’ bullpen; it’s been one of baseball’s best down the stretch, and it looked every bit October-ready. Four relievers — among them former Padre Drew Pomeranz closed the door without allowing a hit. That can’t excuse a lineup this talented failing to move a game that was engineered for them. 

Tip your cap if you must, but don’t kid yourself about the fix. Game 2 has to be about pressure and damage on pitches in the heart, not just balls in play. Hunt count leverage, punish mistakes early, and make the sixth through eighth about adding on instead of hoping.

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