Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Two outs. The Dodgers were just two measly outs away from ending a dominant weekend in style. Two outs from completing a sweep against the San Diego Padres in which they never trailed throughout four games. Two outs from putting the Padres just a little bit further in the rear view mirror. And they couldn’t do it. Instead, the bullpen wasted a great Clayton Kershaw start by giving up four runs in the top of the ninth, and the Dodgers fell to Padres 4-2 on Sunday afternoon.
Welcome back, Mookie!
Mookie Betts was freshly activated off the IL in this one, and wasted no time in making his presence felt. After Clayton Kershaw pitched a scoreless frame in the top of the first, Betts dug into the batter’s box, returning to his familiar leadoff spot in the lineup. And he quickly showed Dodger fans what we’d been missing these last couple of weeks by banging a double down the left field line.
When Trea Turner hit a carbon copy of Mookie’s double to score Betts from second, it seemed like the Dodgers were off to the races against Padres starter McKenzie Gore. And they did load up the bases in the first inning. However, when Trayce Thompson struck out with two down, the inning was over, and the Boys in Blue had to settle for one in the first.
Kershaw bounces back in a big way
After Clayton Kershaw’s disastrous outing in Colorado, he was really looking for a return to form when he took the mound on Sunday. And, having faced the Padres dozens of times in his career, this was a good place to start. Back at sea level, Kersh had his slider working in this one, keeping the Padres’ swings away from the barrels most of the afternoon. The Padres had no more than one man on base in any inning against Kershaw, and at one point the Dodgers’ lefty sent down nine Padres in order.
This game will end up being a no-decision in the books, but it was one of Kershaw’s best outings of 2022. His line for the afternoon: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB. 8 K. Clearly, reports of Clayton’s demise are much exaggerated.
Dodgers can’t push a run across
If late comers arrived after the first inning, they got a pretty quiet game for the next seven innings. With Kershaw dealing, the Padres were kept at bay, and after a shaky first McKenzie Gore settled in and had a good outing. The Dodgers did have a golden opportunity in the bottom of the fourth, though. Mookie Betts started the rally with a one-out walk, and then took second when Trea Turner got clipped on the foot by a pitch.
Next up was Freddie Freeman, hitting third for the first time this year (Dave Roberts broke up his usual Mookie/Freddie/Trea batting order). Freeman banged a solid single to left, but Jurickson Profar delivered a strike to the plate to cut down Betts rather easily at home. That was as close to scoring as the Dodgers would get until the 9th inning.
Disaster in the 9th
After Evan Phillips pitched a scoreless 8th inning, with the help of a great play from Justin Turner, it was up to Craig Kimbrel to shut the door in the 9th.
With the Dodgers clinging to a 1-0 and the heart of the Padre order coming to the plate, it would be a tall order. But, when Kimbrel struck out Manny Machado with some precision pitching, it looked like Kimbrel might be up to the task.
However, things went downhill fast after that. Jake Cronenworth hit a sharp liner that smacked Kimbrel in the upper part of his back and bounced into the infield grass. Kimbrel made a play on the ball, but Cronenworth beat the throw to first. Training staff came out to look and Kimbrel, but he insisted that he was okay and stayed in the game.
Up next, Luke Voit hit a long fly ball to left that kept carrying, it bounced exactly off the top of the fence and caromed back onto the field. Voit had himself a run-scoring double and we were tied at 1-1. Eric Hosmer then banged a single into the right field corner to score Voit, and that was the end of the line for Craig Kimbrel.
Now trailing 2-1, the usually reliable Yency Almonte was brought in to shut the door. Unfortunately, the door still didn’t get shut. He struck out Jorge Alfaro, but Ha-Seong Kim hit a fly ball to center that just cleared the fence and suddenly the Dodgers found themselves in a 4-1 hole. It was not great.
Rally falls short in the bottom of the 9th
The Dodgers sent the hitters they wanted to the plate in the 9th, but couldn’t quite overcome the three-run deficit. They got back-to-back one out hits from Mookie and Trea, and got a sac fly from Freddie Freeman to score a run, but that was it. Will Smith grounded out to second and the game was over. 4-2 Padres. It was a bummer ending to what had been a very good weekend for the Dodgers.
Rockies come to town on the 4th
It’ll be another divisional rivalry (so to speak) in the Dodgers’ next home series. The pesky Colorado Rockies come to LA for three games on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Since Monday is the Independence Day holiday with its big postgame fireworks show, the contest gets underway a little earlier on Monday, with a 6:10 first pitch. It’ll be Julio Urias vs. Kyle Freeland in a battle of lefties. With seven more games to go in this homestand, all against division opponents, the Dodgers really have a shot to get a nice head of steam before the All Star break. Let’s go!
Cans of Corn…
- Sunday, the Dodgers announced that Austin Barnes had signed a two-year extension with the team,
- To make room for Mookie on the roster, Eddie Alvarez will be skating back to Oklahoma City.
- Kershaw might have just pitched himself back into the All-Star conversation.
- Kimbrel got hit pretty hard with that liner. Hopefully, he’ll heal up okay.
- Blown saves are a drag, but you have to feel pretty good about how the Dodgers played this weekend. Now we just need to generate some more offense.
