MLB Division Series: Padres, Phillies, Guardians win

MLB action continued Friday as the best-of-five Division Series rolled on!

The San Diego Padres put forth a commanding pitching effort as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1, while the Philadelphia Phillies dominated the Atlanta Braves 9-1 in Friday's first NLDS game.

Earlier, the Cleveland Guardians outlasted the New York Yankees 4-2 in a hard-fought Game 2 of the ALDS, which was postponed from Thursday due to inclement weather, to tie the series 1-1 heading into Saturday.

Here are all the top plays from Friday's action.

Padres 2, Dodgers 1 (Padres lead 2-1)

Home cookin'

The Padres jumped on Dodgers' starter Tony Gonsolin early. Juan Soto shuffled his way to second base after slapping a double down the right field line, and Manny Machado followed by coaxing a 3-2 walk. 

Jake Cronenworth, who in homered in Game 2, continued his hot tear by plating Soto with an RBI single to follow. The Padres forced Gonsolin to hurl 30 first-inning pitches, but left two runners in scoring position.

Touch 'em all

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled Gonsolin after the first inning, going to the bullpen for lefty Andrew Heaney. Heaney went unscathed through two innings, but his first fastball of the fourth inning was turned on, and taken over the right field fence by eight-hitter Trent Grisham. 

His big fly put the Padres up 2-0.

Beat who?

As "Beat L.A." chants began to sound off throughout Petco Park, L.A. showed some signs of life. 

Trayce Thompson began the forge for the Dodgers, poking a lofting single, and Austin Barnes hit a double into the left-center gap to move his teammate to third. A sacrifice fly from Mookie Betts brought the Dodgers within one, but Blake Snell was able to get out the inning safely after Betts' RBI.

Closing bell 

Snell was pulled after 6 ⅓ innings, but his bullpen strung together a stellar relief effort. The four-man band of Nick Martinez, Luis Garcia, Robert Suarez and Josh Hader collectively stifled the Dodgers in the game's latter stages, and it was Hader's 100-plus mph fastball that slammed the door shut on L.A.'s final three hitters. 

The Padres took a 2-1 series lead with the victory, and will look to advance to the NLCS with another W on Saturday night.

Phillies 9, Braves 1 (PHI leads 2-1)

In the zone

For the first time since 2011, postseason baseball was going down in Philly, and the home team started off with a bang.

After allowing just one hit in the first inning, Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola struck out the side in the second inning to keep things scoreless.

Offense clicking

The Phillies' bats came to life in the third inning.

Shortstop Bryson Stott crushed a doubled to right field, bringing in Brandon Marsh to give Philadelphia an early 1-0 lead.

Heating up

Atlanta intentionally walked Kyle Schwarber, but that plan quickly backfired when Rhys Hoskins hit a home run, bringing in Stott and Schwarber with him. Just like that, the Phillies took a 4-0 lead.

Then, Bryce Harper gave the Phillies another boost with a two-run homer to close out the third inning.

Braves on the board

The Phillies were about to get out of the sixth inning with the shutout still in place, but Hoskins wasn't able to hang on to the throw at first.

Michael Harris II singled to right in the next at-bat, scoring Dansby Swanson and cutting the Braves' deficit to 6-1.

Standing ovation

Nola checked out in the seventh inning after a dominant performance that brought the crowd to its feet.

What could have been

Harper was this close to hitting another home run, but it was just short. Nonetheless, he brought in Matt Vierling with the double to extend the Phillies' lead, 7-1 …

… but the Phillies were quick to add to that. Nick Castellanos was next at-bat, and he finished what Harper started, hitting a single that allowed J.T. Realmuto and Harper to score. 

Just like that, it was a 9-1 game headed into the eighth inning, and things ended there.

Guardians 4, Yankees 2 (Series tied 1-1)

Hot start

New York came out swinging — literally — in this one. In the bottom of the first inning, Yankees DH Giancarlo Stanton homered to right field, bringing in Gleyber Torres with him for an early 2-0 lead.

Closing the gap

Andrés Giménez's single to right field allowed Josh Naylor to score, bringing the Guardians within one run.

With bases loaded, Cleveland had a chance to take the lead, but Yankees starter Nestor Cortes had other plans. He came up with a clutch play get N.Y. off the field with its lead intact.

Knotted up

The Guardians tied things up in the fifth inning when Amed Rosario homered to center field.

Right on the money

Guardians pitcher Trevor Stephan — a former Yankees prospect — continued his dominant performance against his former team, as Cleveland kept things even through the seventh inning.

Free baseball!

Jameson Taillon entered the game for the Yankees in the top of the 10th inning, but things didn't go as planned.

José Ramírez hit a shallow fly to left and then advanced to third on a throwing error by Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson.

When it rains, it pours

Ramírez scored on the next at-bat, courtesy of a single from Oscar Gonzalez. Just like that, Cleveland took a 3-2 lead with no outs and momentum on its side.

It didn't stay a one-run game for long, as Gonzalez got home shortly after to make it 4-2, and things ended there.