Faithful cheer Padres on at watch party, but it’s not enough – Cubs end their season

Padres fans brought their all to Petco Park Thursday and did their best to send the energy across the country, to no avail as the Friars fell to the Cubs 3-1, ending their playoff hopes.

Fans gathered in Gallagher Square at the park had to withstand a brutal ninth inning in which Xander Bogaerts struck out on a questionable called third strike and another ump rang up Jake Cronenworth on a bang-bang call at first.

Chicago, after taking the three-game Wild Card series 2-1, will move on to play the Brewers in the National League Division Series.

It was another painful ending for San Diego after the club made the postseason for the fourth time in six years but fell short of a pennant again. The Padres forced a decisive Game 3 with a 3-0 victory on Wednesday, but their biggest stars flopped in the series finale.

“There’s a lot of hurt guys in that clubhouse, but we left it all out on the field, and there’s no regrets on anybody’s part,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Just disappointed.”

A few hundred fans clutched “For the Faithful” towels on the Gallagher Square lawn, but they had little to cheer about for quite a while.

That’s didn’t matter for one masked fan, who calls himself Padre Libre. Did he take off work for Game 3?

“Yes, I did,” he said. “Its a holiday today.”

Another fan who gave his name as Blake worked Thursday, but after a quick meeting, “headed straight to Petco for today’s watch party. Nothing beats a Padres game under the San Diego sun.”

But the energy picked up in the ninth, when with the team down 3-0, Jackson Merrill’s leadoff homer put the Padres on the board. That set off a celebration among fans, with the team’s Friar mascot leading the way.

And for a few tense moments, it looked like there would be more to celebrate. The Cubs’ Brad Keller, who gave up Merrill’s blast, logged the questionable strikeout of Bogaerts, but then went wild, hitting two batters.

He gave way to Andrew Kittredge and the right-hander earned the save, though he barely retired Cronenworth on a bouncer behind the mound. Freddy Fermin then swung on the first pitch, sending a flyball to straightaway center to end the Padres’ season.

The Cubs also contained the club’s stars. Fernando Tatis Jr. went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, including a flyball to right that stranded runners on second and third in the fifth. Manny Machado, who hit a two-run homer in Game 2, bounced to Swanson for the final out of the eighth, leaving a runner at third.

“It was a fun ride, and the fans, man, thank you guys for supporting us always, as well,” Machado said in a post-game interview. “You know, they’re in the fight with us to the end. We couldn’t ask for a better organization, a better fan base, to support us all year like they did.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.