Padres' bats come alive in Game 2 comeback win to even NLCS

SAN DIEGO — Juan Soto and Josh Hader absorbed most of the attention, but Brandon Drury and Josh Bell were in-season acquisitions of similar importance to the San Diego Padres — a belief further emphasized by Fernando Tatis Jr.'s ensuing suspension. Bell and Drury represented key power bats in the middle of the lineup, a key source of protection for Soto and Manny Machado. And on Wednesday, with the Padres in desperate need of a victory, their bats finally came alive.

Drury and Bell, struggling all postseason and for most of their Padres tenure, combined for five hits and drove in five runs in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, keying an 8-5 come-from-behind victory over the Philadelphia Phillies to earn a split from Petco Park.

The Padres found themselves in a four-run hole midway through the second inning and clawed all the way back, an exceedingly rare triumph for this time of year. Before Wednesday, teams that trailed by four or more runs at any point in an LCS game were 12-268, which amounts to a .043 winning percentage. The Padres themselves were 1-16 in their postseason history, but they had recency on their side. They came back from down four runs during their last trip to the postseason in 2020, in Game 2 of their wild-card series against the St. Louis Cardinals. And they strung together a five-run seventh inning to overcome a three-run deficit and eliminate the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the NL Division Series four days ago.

«We're trying to extend every at-bat,» said Padres catcher Austin Nola, who helped ignite a five-run fifth inning with a hit off his brother. «We're trying to get to the next one. That's kind of what we're doing right now. Get to the next pitch, and then eventually