Padres eliminate Dodgers, advance to NLCS for 1st time since 1998

SAN DIEGO — Jake Cronenworth hit a tiebreaking, two-run single with two outs in the seventh inning and the San Diego Padres rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 Saturday night to advance to the NL Championship Series for the first time since 1998.

The Padres stunned the 111-win Dodgers with the five-run rally to win the best-of-five NL Division Series 3-1 in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 45,139 at Petco Park.

San Diego will host the Philadelphia Phillies in Games 1 and 2 of an all-wild card NLCS on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 8-3 to win their NLDS in four games.

The Padres last reached the NLCS 24 years ago when they beat the Braves in six games and were then swept by the New York Yankees in the World Series. A handful of players from that team watched from a luxury suite, including Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman and center fielder Steve Finley.

The game was delayed 31 minutes at the start by rain, which returned in the eighth inning and prompted a short delay while the grounds crew worked on the mound.

After left-hander Tyler Anderson stymied the Padres through five scoreless innings, the Padres broke through against the Dodgers' bullpen in the seventh.

Jurickson Profar drew a leadoff walk against Tommy Kahnle, took third on Trent Grisham's single to right and scored when Austin Nola's infield single glanced off the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman. Yency Almonte, who took the loss, came on and and was greeted by Kim Ha-seong's RBI double down the left field line, followed by Juan Soto's tying single to right.

With two outs and the crowd on it feet, Cronenworth singled to center off local product Alex Vesia to give the Padres the lead, punching the air with his