Drury, Bell power Padres' outburst to even NLCS

SAN DIEGO -- Juan Soto and Josh Hader absorbed astir of the attention, but Brandon Drury and Josh Bell were in-season acquisitions of akin value to the San Diego Padres -- a content further emphasized by Fernando Tatis Jr.'s ensuing suspension. Bell and Drury represented cardinal powerfulness bats successful the mediate of the lineup, a cardinal root of extortion for Soto and Manny Machado. And connected Wednesday, with the Padres successful hopeless request of a victory, their bats yet came alive.

Drury and Bell, struggling each postseason and for astir of their Padres tenure, combined for 5 hits and drove successful 5 runs successful Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, keying an 8-5, come-from-behind victory implicit the Philadelphia Phillies to gain a divided from Petco Park.

The Padres recovered themselves successful a four-run spread midway done the 2nd inning and clawed each the mode back, an exceedingly uncommon triumph for this clip of year. Before Wednesday, teams that trailed by 4 oregon much runs astatine immoderate constituent successful an LCS crippled were 12-268, which amounts to a .043 winning percentage. The Padres themselves were 1-16 successful their postseason history, but they had recency connected their side. They came backmost from down 4 runs during their past travel to the postseason, successful Game 2 of their wild-card bid against the St. Louis Cardinals. And they strung unneurotic a five-run seventh inning to flooded a three-run shortage and destruct the Los Angeles Dodgers successful Game 4 of the NL Division Series 4 days ago.

"We're trying to widen each at-bat," said Padres catcher Austin Nola, who helped ignite a five-run 5th inning with a deed disconnected his brother. "We're trying to get to the adjacent one. That's benignant of what we're doing close now. Get to the adjacent pitch, and past yet you're gonna get to the adjacent feline and support this happening rolling, getting a bully rally."

Padres manager Bob Melvin made what appeared to beryllium a tiny lineup alteration heading into Game 2, benching Wil Myers, who provided superior defence astatine archetypal base, and moving Jake Cronenworth up to the cleanup spot. Drury and Bell, who had combined for a .105/.128/.184 slash enactment done the Padres' archetypal 8 postseason games, would deed 5th and sixth, respectively. And they came done erstwhile the Padres astir desperately needed a lift.

The Phillies had compiled 4 runs disconnected Blake Snell successful the astir improbable of ways, stringing unneurotic 4 softly deed singles, benefiting from a alert shot Soto mislaid successful the prima and scoring different tally connected a crisp grounder that was booted by Drury astatine archetypal base. Aaron Nola, who had yet to let an earned tally successful these playoffs, was toeing the rubber. A 2-0 pb successful this bid -- with up to 3 games to travel successful Philadelphia -- seemed good wrong the Phillies grasp.

Then Drury led disconnected the bottommost fractional and lined the 2nd transportation helium saw, a chest-high fastball, implicit the obstruction successful near field.

"I was trying to get a large inning going," Drury said during an on-field interview. "He near a fastball implicit the mediate and I conscionable took a bully plaything connected it."

On the adjacent transportation -- different fastball, this 1 up and successful -- Bell deed a towering blast retired to right, cutting the Phillies' pb successful fractional and injecting beingness into a sold-out assemblage of 44,607. Three innings later, successful the bottommost of the fifth, the Padres sent 11 batters to the sheet and accumulated 5 runs. Three of the archetypal 4 batters reached, and past Soto tied the crippled with an RBI treble into the right-field corner. Drury came up aboriginal against Brad Hand, with the bases loaded and 2 outs, and smoked a two-run azygous to left-center. Bell followed with a run-scoring azygous down the right-field line. By that point, Drury and Bell had combined for arsenic galore hits done the archetypal 5 innings of 1 crippled (four) arsenic they had done the full postseason.

"Those guys are present for a reason, and they each person way records," Melvin said. "You look astatine their numbers implicit the people of this year, and they're each good. Those are the guys we're going to support moving retired there."

The Padres' triumph was a byproduct of truthful overmuch much than conscionable Drury and Bell. It was Snell hanging pugnacious aft a 37-pitch 2nd inning, uncovering a mode to grounds 15 outs to crook the crippled implicit to the Padres' champion high-leverage relievers. It was Soto, who had been hitting the shot hard each period but didn't person overmuch to amusement for it, atoning for a missed alert shot with a cardinal hit. It was Machado clobbering a 424-foot location tally successful the seventh, past starting a slick treble play with the Phillies threatening and Bryce Harper up successful the adjacent half-inning. And, astir memorably, it was Nola conquering his younger brother.

The Padres had 1 connected and 1 out, inactive trailed by a mates of runs, and Austin Nola faced an 0-2 number against Aaron Nola, with their parents nervously watching from the stands.

"I consciousness similar each clip I look my member I'm 0-2," Austin Nola said. "He's ever up of me, and I'm ever warring backmost conscionable trying to get immoderate barrels somewhere."

This time, Austin -- successful the archetypal sibling matchup of pitcher versus batter successful postseason past -- executed a cleanable run-and-hit. Ha-Seong Kim took disconnected for 2nd basal successful an attempted steal, Phillies 2nd baseman Jean Segura shifted implicit to cover, and Austin lined a basal deed done a vacated close side, allowing Kim to people each the mode from archetypal and yet igniting a large rally.

The Padres avoided what would person felt similar a large deficit, and present they'll person 1 of their aces, Joe Musgrove, lined up for Game 3 successful Philadelphia connected Friday.

"We knew what we had to do," Machado said successful Spanish. "We had to triumph this crippled nary substance what."