Padres score five runs in fifth against Phillies to tie NLCS

The Philadelphia Phillies were on track to head home with a commanding 2-0 lead in the National League Championship Series, but the San Diego Padres became desperate and their bats woke up.

An offensive outburst in the fifth inning gave the Padres an 8-5 win, knotting the series up at one apiece.

Aaron Nola allowed back-to-back homers to Brandon Drury and Josh Bell in the second inning, the first runs Nola allowed all postseason.

Nola settled down with the Phillies leading 4-2 entering the bottom of the fifth. But that’s when he ran into trouble. His brother Austin ripped an RBI single off Aaron to cut the Padres’ deficit to one run. (Wednesday marked the first time brothers faced each other as pitcher versus hitter in postseason history.)

With runners on the corners and one out, Juan Soto got redemption after losing a fly ball in the sun earlier. He laced a double down the right field line to tie the game. Nola struck out Manny Machado, but Brad Hand hit lefty Jake Cronenworth, loading the bases.

Drury gave San Diego a 6-4 lead with a two-run single up the middle, and Bell added another to make it a three-run lead. Machado later launched a solo shot in the seventh to put San Diego up four runs.

The Padres trailed early. After Blake Snell threw only six pitches in the first inning, he had a rough go of it in the second. The Phillies started the inning with three straight singles to get a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Matt Vierling hit a fly ball to right for what appeared to be a sacrifice fly. But Soto lost it in the sun and let it drop, allowing a run to score without an out being recorded. 

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Edmundo Sosa then singled to make it 3-0, and Kyle Schwarber’s groundout brought in the fourth run of the inning. It took Snell 37 pitches to get out of the inning. 

But the Padres’ offensive outburst in the fifth helped Snell get the win.

Nick Martinez, Robert Suarez and Josh Hader combined for four innings of one-run ball — a Rhys Hoskins solo homer — while striking out seven in relief.

Joe Musgrove (1.38 ERA this postseason) will take the bump for the Padres in Game 3 Friday night, while the Phillies will turn to Ranger Suarez (2.70 ERA).