The Padres Can't Afford to Make This Same Mistake Again in Game 3

The San Diego Padres have their backs against the wall as the National League Division Series shifts to Petco Park.

The Padres are down 0-2 in the best-of-five series, and need to win three straight games to keep their season alive.

The Padres could easily be up 2-0 in the series, or at the very least tied 1-1. They lost each of the first two games by one run, including a heartbreaking Game 2 in which All-Star closer Mason Miller blew a save.

Miller was tasked with getting six outs in Game 2, and ended up throwing a season-high 40 pitches. The Padres can't task Miller with doing that again.

Miller was the most dominant reliever in baseball this season, finishing with a 1.67 ERA, 129 strikeouts and 38 saves over 70 innings.

However, he was rarely tasked with getting six outs.

Miller recorded six outs in just two of his 66 appearances this regular season. Both of them were in extra inning games when he pitched the ninth inning and came back out for the 10th.

This time, the Padres had him pitch the eighth inning, where he needed just 12 pitches to go 1-2-3. Then, he lost his command in the ninth, and ultimately gave up a walk-off two-run single on his 40th pitch.

"I think we've seen some of that [loss of command] from Mason, and it mostly happens in the appearances where he goes more than one inning," manager Craig Stammen said. "I think that's definitely something strategy-wise that we were very comfortable with going into the game but something going forward that we may have to adjust as the playoffs go."

The Padres need Miller if they want any chance of coming back in this series. They need him at his best, however, and his best is in one-inning bursts.

For what it's worth, Stammen did say after Game 2 that left-hander Adrian Morejon — the team's set-up man — was not available after taking down six outs in Game 1. In Game 3, everyone is expected to be available — including right-hander Michael King in relief.

For now, the Padres have to take things one game at a time. And when it comes to Miller, they can't have him pitch more than one inning at a time as they look to climb back into this best-of-five series.

Stammen isn't worried about his superstar closer, though.

"Mason is doing great, and the only thing I said to him is how awesome he is and how proud I am of how he competed in that outing without his best stuff," Stammen said on Tuesday. "He knows there's no one coming behind him to bail him out. That's like any other reliever, any other pitcher on our pitching staff. He knows that, and he competed his tail off and did the best he can. Sometimes it goes your way, and sometimes it doesn't.

"For the most part of this year, it's gone his way, it's gone our way. One game doesn't determine his failure or his success as a person or as a player."

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