Padres avoid elimination, beat Brewers 4-3 in NLDS Game 3 with Cronenworth's HR, King's relief

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jake Cronenworth hit a tiebreaking homer, Game 2 starter Michael King pitched the final two innings on one day of rest and the San Diego Padres avoided playoff elimination with a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of their NL Division Series on Tuesday night.

Xander Bogaerts turned a game-ending double play at shortstop for the Padres, who trimmed Milwaukee’s lead in the best-of-five series to 2-1 with a tense, back-and-forth victory over the MLB-best Brewers.

Game 4 is Wednesday night at Petco Park. If necessary, Game 5 will be back in Milwaukee on Friday.

Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado drove in early runs for the Padres, but their bullpen didn’t have star closer Mason Miller, who went on the paternity list about 45 minutes before the first pitch. King stepped up after pitching five innings just two days ago and finished it off — but only after a thrilling ninth.

The right-hander retired four of his first five batters, but William Contreras and Brice Turang drew one-out walks in the ninth. Christian Yelich then cracked a 107 mph line drive up the middle, where Bogaerts went down to his knees to field it on a short hop and scampered to touch second base before throwing out Yelich at first to end it.

King earned his first save since 2023, his first in the postseason and his first for the Padres.

Contreras homered and had three hits for the Brewers, who lost their 12th consecutive postseason road game dating to the 2018 National League Championship Series.

Yelich even got his first playoff RBI since 2018 with a seventh-inning single, but Milwaukee fell behind early and never led, leaving 11 runners on base.

The Padres had won 19 of 22 and swept the Cubs out of the Wild Card Series before losing two straight heartbreakers in Milwaukee last weekend, but they are fighting to stay with the majors’ best regular-season team.

The clubs have played three consecutive one-run games in this NLDS, all decided by late-game execution — and this time, the Padres came through.

They were also bailed out by King, largely a reliever early in his major league career with the Yankees. This game was just his third relief appearance in three seasons with San Diego — and according to OptaStats, he is the first pitcher to start a postseason game and then earn a two-inning save within the next two days since saves became an official statistic in 1969.

Neither starter excelled on a tense, uncommonly hot October night in downtown San Diego. Nick Pivetta yielded two runs and five hits while pitching into the fifth for the Padres, and Dustin May got pulled abruptly with a 1-0 count on Bogaerts and a runner on in the fourth.

Samad Taylor and Jackson Merrill put San Diego ahead in the third when both singled, stole second and scored. Contreras answered with his second homer of the series, adding a theatrical trot around the bases.

Cooper Pratt tied it right after Pivetta’s exit when Dustin Harris couldn’t throw him out on Jackson Chourio’s 242-foot sacrifice fly. It was the fifth RBI of the series for the 22-year-old Chourio and his 16th in 15 career postseason games, already tying Ryan Braun for the franchise record.

Cronenworth lined JoJo Romero’s first pitch of the fifth over the wall in right for only his second hit of the postseason.

Bogaerts then singled in the sixth, advanced on a wild pitch and scored when Pratt bounced his throw from shortstop for an error after Miguel Andujar’s broken bat came flying toward him along with the grounder.

San Diego’s outfield couldn’t get to Turang’s bloop single with two outs in the seventh, and Yelich singled home Contreras for his first playoff RBI since he homered in Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS against the Dodgers — a span of 87 plate appearances over 19 games.

Neither team had announced its Game 4 starter.

A previous version of this story corrected that King started Game 2, not Game 1.

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

San Diego Padres pitcher Yuki Matsui celebrates after getting Milwaukee Brewers' Brice Turang to ground out with the bases loaded to end the top of the fifth inning in Game 3 of baseball's National League Division Series Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres' Jake Cronenworth celebrates after hitting a solo home run during the fifth inning in Game 3 of baseball's National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Milwaukee Brewers' Cooper Pratt, right, scores past San Diego Padres catcher Ethan Salas during the fifth inning in Game 3 of baseball's National League Division Series Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Milwaukee Brewers' Cooper Pratt scores during the fifth inning in Game 3 of baseball's National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres' Jake Cronenworth celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the fifth inning in Game 3 of baseball's National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Derrick Tuskan)

San Diego Padres' Jake Cronenworth, right, is congratulated by teammate Jackson Merrill (3) after hitting a solo home run during the fifth inning in Game 3 of baseball's National League Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

NETANYA, Israel (AP) — Israelis gathered Wednesday to commemorate the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 people, saw 251 taken hostage, and sparked a devastating war in Gaza that has devastated the territory and left its 2 million people living in dire conditions.

In southern Israel, families mourned at intersections, bomb shelters, and the site of a music festival that Hamas-led militants overran three years ago in the deadliest attack against Israel. It is the first anniversary that all the hostages are home, marking a new stage of grief.

For Palestinians, the anniversary brings another day of life of misery and difficulties after an Israeli retaliatory campaign in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people. Most of the population of about 2 million people live in vast, squalid tent camps, with large parts of the strip’s cities reduced to rubble. More than half the territory remains in the hands of the Israeli military, and despite a ceasefire deal reached nearly a year ago, Israeli strikes continue almost daily.

For the region, the day highlights a startling transformation over the past three years. Israeli troops occupy a large chunk of southern Lebanon in their conflict with Hezbollah, which began firing on Israel in 2023 in support of Hamas. Iran and the United States are locked in a confrontation that has seen attacks across Arab Gulf countries and has shaken the global economy — a conflict that Israel helped launch and that the Gaza war paved the way for even if they weren’t directly connected.

Elkana Bohbot, 37, is marking the anniversary in Israel for the first time, after being released from 738 days of captivity last year. For most of that time, he said, he was held 50 meters (165 feet) underground in a dark, damp tunnel.

Bohbot, who was abducted from the Nova music festival, was kept in a small cell with other hostages, given very little food, and allowed to bathe only every few weeks, he said. His captors forced him to take part in several propaganda videos, including one where he acts out a fake call to his family.

In the 11 months since his release, Bohbot has undergone physical and emotional rehabilitation, written a book, begun a speaking career, traveled with his family, and celebrated all the holidays and birthdays he missed.

In August, his wife, Rivka, gave birth to a daughter, fulfilling a fierce promise that Bohbot made to himself in the tunnels to give his 5-year-old son, Reem, a sibling.

The newborn Michele is “not a symbol for my people, she is more of a symbol for the enemy,” Bohbot told The Associated Press. “So this child is the message for you that we were here, and we will always be here forever.”

No events are expected on Wednesday in Gaza, where Israel’s offensive has devastated the narrow strip and displaced around 90% of its population, often multiple times. Restrictions on the entry of goods and aid have contributed to a severe hunger crisis.

More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its figures but says around half were women and children. The numbers from the ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

While a ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10 has halted the heaviest fighting, Israeli strikes have continued, targeting what Israel says are Hamas militants. Since the ceasefire, 1,145 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the ministry. Seven Israeli soldiers have been killed in that period.

Hamas portrayed the Oct. 7 attack as a response to decades of Israeli military occupation, land seizures and settlement construction. But the Palestinians’ dream of an independent state appears even more distant.

A contentious election in Israel at the end of the month hangs over this year's anniversary. The government’s official memorial services took place on Oct. 5, closer to the Hebrew-calendar anniversary of the attack. The separate commemorations are indicative of the deep divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war and his reluctance to launch an official inquiry into failings of the day.

The attack set in motion a cascade of events that led to wars across the Middle East as Israel confronted Hamas, Hezbollah and their backer Iran. Israel has seized swaths of territory in Syria and Lebanon, where more than 300,000 Lebanese remain displaced. The United States joined Israel in attacking Iran’s military and nuclear program in two rounds, battering Iran and upending global markets far from the battlefield.

Violence has also risen across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israel’s far-right government has emboldened extremist settlers who have attacked Palestinians and destroyed their property.

Palestinians inspect the site of an early morning Israeli airstrike in Gaza city, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians inspect the site of an early morning Israeli airstrike in Gaza city, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Released hostage Elkana Bohbot poses in Kadima Zoran, Israel, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, before marking the Oct. 7 anniversary in Israel for the first time following his release from 738 days in captivity in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People attend a memorial service marking the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas cross-border attack on Israel, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, southern Israel, where many community members were killed and abducted, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Raz Zarfati, sister of Ron Zarfati who was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, attend a memorial marking the third anniversary of the attack at the Nova music festival site near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)