The empty stadiums of this baseball season have produced a bizarre soundtrack: home runs clanging against plastic seats, batters swearing after popups, pitchers grunting on each delivery. On Friday night in San Diego, as the Padres beat the Cardinals 4–0 in Game 3 of the National League Wild Card Series, the most common noise was a different one: that of the bullpen door swinging open.
In 119 years of Major League Baseball, no team had ever cobbled together nine scoreless innings from nine different pitchers. On Friday, over 146 pitches and three hours and 21 minutes, San Diego produced a shutout from the stretch.