Steve Webb
SAN DIEGO, CA — It was set up perfectly. With the game tied 4-4 going into the 10th inning, the Dodgers had speedy Cody Bellinger as the placed runner on second and the top of the order of Betts, Trea Turner, and Freeman coming up. Sounds like a recipe for success, right? Instead, all three failed to deliver and Bellinger remained camped at second the entire inning. Then, the Padres quickly walked it off in the bottom of the inning thanks to an RBI single from Jake Cronenworth. San Diego, known for its sunny weather, was a very gloomy spot indeed on Friday night. The Dodgers lost 5-4, and now will have to wait until their next series for a chance to clinch the division.
Teams trade homers in wet start
Even after the nearly one-hour rain delay, it was still pretty wet and sloppy when the game got underway at Petco Park. At first, Padres starter Mike Clevinger seemed to be cruising to a 1-2-3 first inning, as he retired both Mookie Betts and Trea Turner on back-to-back strikeouts. However, Freddie Freeman wasn’t about to let it be three in a row. He got ahead 3-1 in the count and then absolutely walloped a fastball from Clevinger and sent it waaaaay deep to right centerfield for a 446-foot bomb of a home run to put the Dodgers up 1-0 early.
However, Dustin May gave those run right back in a way that was eerily reminiscent of his last start against the Friars at Dodger Stadium: wildness and longballs. However, the Padres got a big-time assist from the home plate umpire in this one. What might have been a strike-’em-out-throw-’em-out double play was instead called ball four on Jake Cronenworth, and the Padres had a couple aboard when light-hitting Trent Grisham pulled a home run over the right field fence. What could have been a quiet second inning was now a three-run explosion from the Padres. Not great.
Dodgers cobble together a rally to tie it up
However, in the top of third, the Dodgers crawled right back into this one. Chris Taylor found a nice stroke to lead off the inning with a single to left. He was erased on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Cody Bellinger, but after Mookie Betts was hit by a pitch, Trea Turner hit a single to load up the bases with just one out. Then, the Dodgers scored two on a long out and a short hit. Freddie Freeman drilled a ball to the gap that hung up a bit to become a sacrifice fly to score the first run, and then Will Smith had a little nubber to the third base side for a single to score run number two. It was a 3-3 tie and May’s rocky beginning had been erased by some timely Dodger hitting.
Trayce for the lead, but bad D gives it right back
It’s still a head-scratcher that the Dodgers were somehow able to scoop Trayce Thompson up off the scrapheap this year. While he’s cooled off a bit lately, he continues to produce at a high level for the team. In the fourth inning of this one, Thompson blasted the first pitch he saw from Clevinger over the left field fence for a solo home run to put the Dodgers up 4-3. It was Trayce’s 9th long ball in just 57 games. Such an impressive summer he’s put together thus far.
However, Thompson’s blast was erased in the next inning due to some sloppy play. After a Juan Soto walk, Manny Machado hit what looked to be a solid single to right. However, the ball skipped on the wet grass and went under the glove off Mookie Betts for the two-base error. The misplay allowed Soto to score all the way from first to tie up the game. Things got even worse when May misplayed another comebacker to put men at first and third with just one out. But May was able to muscle his way out of the inning with a short fly ball to center and a pop out to the catcher to escape with just the lone run scoring. The game would move into the late innings tied at 4-4.
Both pens shut down offenses
With both starters out by the fifth inning, it was up to the bullpens of both teams to keep the score right where it was. And both pens proved up to the task– the back half of the game went very quickly with nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard in the last four innings of regulation play. For the Dodgers, it was Caleb Ferguson, Chris Martin, an Phil Bickford who got the game through the 8th, and Craig Kimbrel who pitched another 1-2-3 9th (thanks, Princess Elsa!) to send the game into extra innings.
Another overtime, another loss
Although the Dodgers haven’t been quite as bad at extra innings this season, they are still well below .500 at 4-7. This time around, it was a failure to move a runner that cost them. With Belli at second, Mookie should have walked, but got jobbed on a bad call and ended up popping out to shallow right. Trea struck out. And then, Freddie Freeman gave one a real ride, but it ended up dying on the warning track for the last out.
In the bottom of the inning, it was soon-to-be-ex-Dodger Heath Hembree who got the ball. Manny Machado was given an intentional walk. Hembree then struck out Josh Bell, setting up a potential inning-ending double play. He only needed a ground ball from Jake Cronenworth to get out of the jam.
He didn’t get one. Instead, Cronenworth ripped a solid single to right. It looked like Mookie Betts might have a shot at throwing out Juan Soto at the plate, but on this wet night, the throw went up the line considerably and Soto scored easily. As the Padres participated in the obligatory mobbing of Cronenworth, the Dodgers walked off the field still ahead in the season series 10-4, but losers on this night. There will be no celebration in San Diego this weekend.
Lefties lock up on Saturday
Hopefully, the weather will cooperate a little better as these teams meet again on Saturday evening. It’ll be another great pitching match-up in the middle game of the series: Julio Urias vs. Blake Snell. Urias looks to continue to make his late case for consideration for the Cy Young award, and Snell is coming off back-to-back outings of surrendering one earned run or fewer. A little bit of an earlier start for the Saturday night contest: 5:40 first pitch from San Diego. Should be a good one.
Cans of Corn…
- Dustin May is still struggling with command. Doesn’t give you a lot of confidence for his postseason role.
- After May gave up the homer to Grisham, he plunked the next batter Jorge Alfaro. This led to Clevinger hitting Mookie Betts with a fastball a couple of innings later. It seemed like the umps were discussing issuing warnings to the benches, but nothing came of it.
- Betts ended up scoring in the inning, so if anybody lost on that exchange it was the Padres.
- Trea Turner got smacked in the collarbone area pretty hard by a throw from the catcher Alfaro while stealing second base in the game. Looked like the Padre shortstop Kim didn’t even get a glove on it. Ouch!
- Another 0-for-4 night for Bellinger. Three more strikeouts for Joey Gallo
- Justin Turners‘ hitting streak has been snapped as he went hitless.
- Speaking of pain, Max Muncy sat this game out to heal up after a cortisone shot that he got back in LA after Wednesday’s game with the Giants. Apparently, he’s got some knee pain resulting from the way he’s loading up his swing with a little step back at the plate.
