Rookie Ethan Salas singled home Jake Cronenworth with one out in the 10th as the San Diego Padres beat the Miami Marlins 7–6 on Saturday night, 19 September, at Petco Park, lowering the Padres’ magic number to three for a third straight postseason berth, ESPN, Associated Press (via CBS Sports), and Reuters (Field Level Media) reported. Salas, called up 1 September, punched a single up the middle on an 0-2 pitch from Josh Ekness (2-4) an inning after Griffin Conine’s tying ninth-inning homer off Mason Miller; David Morgan (4-1) got the win, those wires said. Cronenworth, the automatic runner, had advanced to third on a wild pitch before Sung-Mun Song struck out and Salas batted for Freddy Fermin on the Reuters/AP sequence.
Fernando Tatis Jr. had tied it earlier with a solo shot leading off the fourth off Eury Pérez; the Padres won for the 12th time in 13 games and sit tied with the Chicago Cubs at 86–69 for the top National League wild-card slot (Cubs hold the tiebreaker), ESPN / AP and Reuters FLM reported. Philadelphia fell a game back after losing 10–3 at the New York Mets; Carson Benge broke Pete Alonso’s Mets season rookie hits record (156) with a 3-for-4 night on the AP/CBS Mets frame folded under this wild-card short. Soft recorded without choosing: wires note the earliest Padres clinch as Tuesday at the Dodgers — the short states magic number three and the wild-card tie with the Cubs and omits Tuesday schedule detail.
Conine’s pinch-hit drive off Miller was a 102-mph four-seamer estimated 427 feet to right for his 17th homer while Miller was trying for a five-out save, AP/CBS said. Samad Taylor had homered off Pérez in the second (his second); San Diego scored three in the third, including on Cronenworth’s bases-loaded walk. Ty France’s opposite-field double in the sixth scored Dustin Harris, who had doubled and extended a hitting streak to nine games. Miami had roughened Casey Mize through three innings for a 5–1 lead, including Otto Lopez’s two-run homer (11th) in the second, those accounts reported. Marlins RHP Sandy Alcantara (13-10, 3.85 ERA) and Padres RHP Walker Buehler (8-6, 4.58) were listed for Sunday’s series finale on the AP “up next” line.
Named actors locked to the wires: Salas (walk-off RBI single, 10th; called up 1 Sep); Cronenworth (scored winning run; earlier bases-loaded walk); Conine (tying HR, ninth off Miller); Tatis (solo HR, fourth); Morgan (4-1 W); Ekness (2-4 L); Miller; Taylor; France; Harris; Lopez; Mize; Pérez; Benge (156th hit, Mets season rookie record); Song; Fermin. Soft: Padres earliest clinch Tuesday at Dodgers — omitted; body holds magic number three, the 86–69 tie with Chicago (Cubs TB), and Philadelphia a game back after the Mets’ 10–3. Soft: Cubs companion result folded only via the tie note — not restriped as a full short. The desk does not invent October seeding beyond the published magic number and wild-card standings as wired.
The checkable record is 7–6 in 10 innings at Petco Park, Salas’s walk-off single scoring Cronenworth, Conine’s tying ninth-inning homer, Tatis’s earlier solo shot, Padres magic number three, SD tied with CHC at 86–69 atop the NL wild card (Cubs TB), Phillies a game back after Mets 10–3, and Benge’s 156 Mets season rookie hits record.
What comes next is checkable: published NL wild-card standings with San Diego and Chicago at 86–69 and Philadelphia a game back; Sunday’s Padres–Marlins box with Alcantara and Buehler on the AP “up next” line; magic-number updates as listed after Sunday; each club’s remaining regular-season schedule on the wires.
Floor: Padres 7–6 Marlins 10th at Petco Sat 19; Salas walk-off scored Cronenworth; MN to three; SD tied CHC 86–69 top NL WC (Cubs TB); Phillies drop after Mets 10–3; Benge Mets season rookie hits record 156; Conine tying 9th HR; Tatis solo.