Steve Webb
SAN DIEGO, CA — Finally! For the first time in ten weeks, I get to write about a Dodgers’ victory on a Sunday. Those extra prayers must have helped! Indeed, the Dodgers showed up big time in San Diego on Sunday, getting a total team win which featured contributions from both pillars of the team, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, as well as solid performances from a trio of recent acquisitions — Lynn, Rosario, and Hernandez. It all added up to an 8-2 wire-to-wire win over the Padres in this third game of the series.
The game started with what the Dodgers have come to specialize in this year: some two-out runs. This time in the top of the first, the visiting Doyers got two runs off our old buddy Rich Hill, who was making his Padre debut. It happened after Freddie Freeman got plunked with a pitch with one out in the inning. Then, after a J.D. Martinez strikeout, Amed Rosario came up big for the team again, hitting a home run into the right field seats. In his eight games in a Dodger uniform, Rosario already has two home runs and 9 RBI.
Then, in the second, the Dodgers added to their lead in a big way with a little small ball from the bottom of the order. Kiké Hernandez led off with a single, and then advanced to third on a single off the bat of Miguel Rojas. After that, Austin Barnes simply bunted him home on a well-executed squeeze play. At first, Hernandez was called out, but upon review, it was overturned because San Diego catcher Gary Sanchez had blocked the plate.
However, the big blow in the inning came two batters later. After the Padres failed to turn a double play on a Mookie Betts grounder to third, Freddie Freeman stepped into the box, and then did Freddie Freeman things. Fouling off pitch after pitch, Freeman hung in there for nine pitches until on the tenth pitch of the at-bat, he got what he wanted from Hill: a 71-mph sweeper up in the zone. Freeman mashed the ball to deep right for a three-run home run, and the Dodgers were officially in cruise control.
Gifted with a 6-0 lead, new Dodger Lance Lynn did what he does best on the mound: attack the strike zone. He did give up one mammoth shot to Gary Sanchez, but other than that shut down the Padres completely, giving up only four hits over six innings of work. It was the second straight quality start from Lynn, who was notoriously bad in Chicago. More of this please, Lance.
The Dodgers tacked on a couple of insurance runs after that, one of which on a Mookie Betts homer, but the game was pretty much over by the end of the second inning. Another hitting star of the day was Kiké Hernandez, who had his best day since his return to LA, hitting a pair of doubles, scoring a run, and going 3-for-5. So, yeah, it was a good day.
Tony Gonsolin gets the ball on Monday afternoon as the two teams finish this four-game wraparound series. He’ll toe the rubber against veteran righty Seth Lugo as the Dodgers try to win another series against the Padres, and put a little more water on the barely burning fire that is San Diego’s hopes of making the postseason. Game time is 1:10 pm.
