Roger Arrieta
SAN DIEGO—Tony Gonsolin is one Cool Cat. The Catman delivered in the biggest start of his career as he quieted the upstart Padres through 7.0 innings and led the Dodgers to a 3-1 win in the second game of the 3-game series.
Gonsolin only allowed two runners to advance past first base in his 1-run, 4-hit stellar performance. Gonsolin stymied the highly-touted San Diego offense while the return of Justin Turner sparked the offense. Turner went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scores as LA outhit the Padres 9-6.
The victory evens the series with the Padres and ups Los Angeles’ lead in the NL West to 2.5 games. The Dodgers are now 34-15 on the year. San Diego has their 8-game win streak come to a screeching stop and falls to 32-18.
GAME RECAP: It was Tony Gonsolin’s world and the Padres were living in it. The only runners that were allowed to get past first base in his 7 innings were Wil Myers and Jusrickson Profar. Myers reached second on a 2-out double in the second inning and was stranded on the very next at bat while Profar had a leadoff 2-bagger in the third and came around to score the only run of the game for San Diego.
Gonsolin retired the first five hitters he faced and the final eight batters he went up against. He also owned the much-publicized 1-2 combo of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado. The duo was a combined 0-for-6 against the Catman.
The Dodgers’ offense won the game with single runs in the first, third and fifth innings. Betts started the game with a single to left field on the seventh pitch of the opening at-bat in the first. He moved up to second on a ground out by Corey Seager and then scored on Turner’s first hit of the night – an 0-1 sinker that he went inside-out on and dumped down the right field line. The run in the third came courtesy of three straight 2-out singles. Turner started the run-scoring rally with a single to center. He was able to take third on Will Smith’s deep base knock to the left-center gap and came home when Cody Bellinger hit a line drive to center on a 3-1 changeup. The final insurance run was provided by the lone long ball of the night. Edwin Ríos broke out of a 1-for-20 slump in the month of September when he raked an 0-1 sinker over the right field fence. The 413-foot blast was Ríos’ fourth of the year and hammered off the facing of the second tier of seats in right field.
The only drama left in the game came in the two innings after Gonsolin hit the showers. Caleb Ferguson started the eighth but pulled up with an injury after he struck out Profar. Ferguson left the game with an apparent elbow injury. Blake Treinen got the emergency call out of the bullpen and proceeded to strike out Greg Garcia and get Trent Grisham to do what Trent Grisham does best – meekly ground out to the infield. Kenley Jansen entered the game in the ninth and started the inning like the Jansen of old by getting Tatis Jr. to ground out to shortstop after he got ahead 1-2. The inning turned into a nail-biter in the next at-bat to Machado. Machado was able to come up with a single to left field on the seventh pitch of a dramatic at bat. Mitch Moreland singled and Austin Nola walked to load the bases and send every Dodger fan running for the heart medication. Jansen settled all the Blue Faithful’s nerves by striking out Myers and Jake Cronenworth to end the game and record his National League-best 11th save.
GAMEHIGHLIGHTS:
SERIES STUFF: The win gives the Dodgers a 5-4 edge in the season series. If they can win the finale on Wednesday they will have beaten the Padres in the season series for 10 consecutive seasons which would be an MLB record for most consecutive season series wins over a division opponent.
OBSCURE STATS OF THE NIGHT: The Dodgers are now 12-5 when the starting pitcher makes a quality start (6.0 innings or more pitched and three or fewer runs allowed). LA is now 12-0 when they allow less than two runs in a game.
CATMAN COMETH: The 7.0 innings pitched were the most of Gonsolin’s young MLB career while the 90 pitches thrown were the second highest of his 18 appearances in the bigs. He had never made an out in the seventh inning before Tuesday and the highest pitch count of his career came last season on Aug. 30 at Arizona when he tossed 92 pitches in a 5.0-inning outing. Gonsolin only struck out two batters on the night – his second lowest total of the season – but kept the San Diego hitters off balance with a lethal 4-pitch mix. Gonsolin earned his first victory of the year and dropped to his ERA to 1.51.
HE SAID IT: “I wasn’t getting as much miss today but the defense played great.”—Gonsolin on his low strikeout total and the success the team had on Tuesday.
HE SAID IT 2: “We’ve seen some good ones with Tony. Against this team, for Tony to go 7.0 innings is truly remarkable. He was in control. He came out aggressive and was smelling it at the end. There were signs of him being similar to another player on our team.”—Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts on Gonsolin’s outing and comparing his late-inning intensity to the way Clayton Kershaw gets.
HE SAID IT 3: “We like when Tony gets the ball.”—Justin Turner on Gonsolin’s outing.
JANSEN JUST DOES IT: While Jansen blew his second save of the year on Saturday against Houston, he still has a NL-best 11 saves and will be the LA closer for the playoffs. The save was also the 312th of his career which pushes him into sole possession of the No.24 spot on the list for career MLB saves. He needs three more to pass former Giant and Marlin Robb Nen.
HE SAID IT 4: “It wasn’t an easy one today. They were locked in and I tried to be locked I too. I tried to bounce back and get back on track. I’m not going to let stuff that happened in the past define our season. Our season is to try and win a championship. I don’t care what the stats or any of that bull crap is, it’s time to win a championship. That’s all it’s about, pick my teammates up.—Jansen to SportNet LA commentator Alana Rizzo about the game on Tuesday.
TACK ON TWO MORE: Even though it was nerve-wracking, the Dodger’s bullpen added 2.0 more scoreless innings to their season total. The Blue Pen dropped its NL-best ERA to 2.75 and also leads the NL in WHIP (1.08) and opposing team batting average (.211).
THE RED TWIZZLER THAT STIRS THE DODGERS’ DRINK: Welcome back JT – the team missed you. Turner, who could go away on a 1-month vacation and still pick up a bat and get a hit against any pitcher in baseball, returned to the lineup after being put on the IL on Sept. 1. He produced hits in his first three at bats. Turner finished the game by going 3-for-4 and was a part of two of the team’s three runs. He also extended his MLB-best on-base streak to 22 games and is now hitting .298 for the year. Oh yeah, the Dodgers are now 23-10 with Turner in the lineup.
MR. DODGER 800: The three hits for Turner bring his total in a Dodger uniform to 800. In his seven years with the Dodgers, Turner is hitting .302 (800-for-2651) with 114 homers and 404 RBI in 787 games.
HE SAID IT 5: “He just has a great heartbeat. His bat to ball skills are really good. Nothing surprises me with JT.”—Roberts on Turner’s 3-hit performance.
HE SAID IT 6: “It felt good to be back out there and be productive right out of the gates. I’ve been hitting all along and it (the injury to his hamstring) hasn’t hurt my hitting so I’ve felt comfortable all along.”—Turner on how he felt on Tuesday and why he had success in his very first game since not playing in 14 days.
YOU BETTER, YOU BETTER , YOU BETTS: Betts was the only other LA hitter with more than one hit in the game. He went 2-for-4 which raised his average to .304. It was his 14th multiple-hit game of 2020 and he has now reached base safely in 15 consecutive games.
MAKE IT A HONEY BEE: The 3-1 win over the Padres gives the Dodgers a +100 run differential for the season. They are the only team in baseball that has scored more than 85 runs than their opponents. Since starting their NL West championship run 2013, Los Angeles has outscored its opponents by 1,084 runs which is 289 more than the next closest team.
ON DECK: It will be an afternoon showdown when the Dodgers square off against the Padres in the rubber game of the 3-game series on Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. Dustin May is available to pitch for the Dodgers being hit on the left ankle by a line drive in the very first inning of his outing on Sept. 10 at Arizona but will come out of the bullpen. That means it will be another bullpen game for LA. Brusdar Graterol will be in line for his second start in the past three days. Graterol made the start against the Asterisks on Sunday and went 1.0 inning and struck out three. Graterol has made two appearances against the Padres this season and has a 10.80 ERA in 1.2 innings pitched and took the loss in a 5-4 defeat on Aug. 3. The Padres are also scheduled to have a bullpen game with Adrían Morejón beginning the progression of relievers. Morejón is 2-0 with a 2.53 ERA and a 1.125 WHIP in 10.2 innings pitched this year. Her has not faced the Dodgers this year.
