Jackson Merrill homers to lead Padres past Brewers

The 30-year-old infielder will get a head start on free agency. Bride appeared in just two games with the Rangers during the 2026 season, going 1-for-5 in his limited action. At Triple-A Round Rock, he slashed a solid .279/.406/.410 with 10 homers and 78 RBI in 545 plate appearances.

Waters was sent outright to Triple-A Omaha in early September by the Royals. He spent the entire season at the Triple-A level, slashing .262/.323/.446 with 14 homers, 54 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 439 plate appearances. He has proven to be quality outfield depth and shouldn’t have any difficulty finding a new home this offseason.

Benson played a major role in the Reds’ outfield over the previous three seasons but wound up seeing just 114 plate appearances in 2026 while slashing a gruesome .188/.310/.333 with three homers, six RBI and a 38/16 K/BB ratio. He’s now free to peddle his wares on the open market.

Martin, 30, struggled in seven appearances with the Cubs during the 2026 campaign, registering a 10.80 ERA, 2.00 WHIP and a 4/5 K/BB ratio across five innings of work. He’ll get a headstart on the free agent market, though it’s hard to envision him landing anything other than a minor league deal with an invitation to big league camp.

The Tigers sent Rainey outright to Triple-A Toledo on Wednesday, but rather than accepting the outright assignment, the 33-year-old righty will get a headstart on the free agent market. Rainey made six appearances at the MLB level for the Tigers in 2026, posting a 3.86 ERA, 1.57 WHIP and a troublesome 6/8 K/BB ratio over his seven innings of work.

Alexander was designated for assignment on September 24. He passed through waivers unclaimed and then refused an outright assignment to Triple-A Sugar Land, opting instead to hit the open market. The 33-year-old hurler struggled to a 9.33 ERA and 1.58 WHIP over 18 1/3 innings with the Astros during the 2026 campaign.

The Brewers were tied for 28th place in the majors in homers this year, but they got two to account for their runs tonight, with Jackson Chourio hitting a two-run homer off Robbie Ray in the third and William Contreras breaking the tie off Adrian Morejon in the seventh. Contreras’s homer was his third in 19 career postseason games. The two teams will play again Sunday, with Michael King and Logan Henderson expected to start.

He struck out six. The Padres succeeded in fouling off a whopping 30 pitches in Misiorowski’s four innings, driving up his pitch count and leading to an early exit. Both runs scored in the second, an inning that featured that featured three straight singles with one out. The inning could have turned into a disastrous one after first baseman Jake Bauers tried and failed to get an out at home on a grounder., but Misiorowski was able to prevent further damage by getting Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado to ground out. Misiorowski figures to get the ball again in Game 5 if the NLDS goes the distance.

It looked like he might have given up a go-ahead homer to Ty France in the bottom of the ninth, but the ball hit a cable attached to the roof at former Miller Park and dropped into Jackson Chourio’s glove. Statcast indicated that it wouldn’t have left the park anyway, even though it seemed pretty majestic off the bat. Megill was the Brewers’ primary closer last year, but since he was returning from injury last October, he worked as a setup man and even opened once in his five appearances last postseason. With the nice showing tonight, he’s allowed a total of one run in 8 2/3 innings in nine postseason appearances.

Ray retired six of the seven batters he faced in the first and second innings, but the third started with an infield single and then a homer from Jackson Chourio with one out. The Brewers kept rallying from there with two walks and a single. Ray, though, retired Christian Yelich for the second out, and Bradgley Rodriguez got Cooper Pratt to ground out to end the inning. The start tonight was Ray’s third career in the postseason; he had one for the D-backs in 2017 and one for the Mariners in 2022. Between the three, he’s pitched a total of 10 innings and allowed 10 runs.