The offense was led by the 50 home run club's newest member, Greg Vaughn, and by Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.
The San Diego rotation was anchored by 18-game winner Kevin Brown, who helped Florida defeat Atlanta in the 1997 NLCS, along with All-Star Andy Ashby and the series MVP Sterling Hitchcock.
It was the seventh-consecutive NLCS appearance for the Braves and they would be heavily favored against the Padres, though their edge in the season series between the two teams was modest, having won 5 of 9.
[8] With John Smoltz on the mound, the Braves struck first when Andruw Jones hit a home run to lead off the third inning off Andy Ashby.
In the tenth, Ken Caminiti belted a home run off reliever Kerry Ligtenberg to give San Diego their winning margin.
Thursday, October 8, 1998, at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia After the tightly-contested Game 1, Kevin Brown, who was developing a reputation as a "Brave killer" pitched a three-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts.
Tom Glavine matched Brown until the sixth, when San Diego hit three straight two-out singles, the last of which by Quilvio Veras brought in a run.
Then one out later with the bases loaded, Wally Joyner's RBI single scored another before Brown pitched a perfect ninth and put the Braves down two games to none.
The Braves cut the lead to 2–1 when Keith Lockhart hit a leadoff triple and scored on Chipper Jones's single, then tied it in sixth on when Jones doubled with two outs and after a walk, scored on a Ryan Klesko RBI single, but San Diego retook the lead in the bottom of the inning when Jim Leyritz, two years removed from his crucial home run against the Braves in the 1996 World Series, hit a shot off Neagle.
Javy López led off with a home run, followed by an Andruw Jones single that ended the night for Padres starter Joey Hamilton.
A single and walk loaded the bases Dan Miceli relieved Myers and Andrés Galarraga launched a prodigious grand slam that left Atlanta ahead 8–3.
After a single by Ozzie Guillén to start the seventh, manager Bruce Bochy brought starter Kevin Brown into the game.
Then Michael Tucker got a hold of a Brown fastball and launched a flyball to deep right center field that left the park and put Atlanta ahead 5–4.
Maddux retired the side, with nemesis Tony Gwynn grounding out to finish the game, and earned his first ever career save.
Glavine looked good as well, matching Hitchcock zero for zero through that point, but ran into trouble in the sixth (the same inning that had doomed him in Game 6 exactly a year to the day prior against the Florida Marlins).
A single and walk loaded the bases before Sterling Hitchcock reached on a costly error by left fielder Danny Bautista that scored two more runs.