Steve Webb
SAN DIEGO — One of the most frustrating parts about the Dodgers 106-win season last year was the team’s seemingly inexplicable inability to win tight contests, especially those in extra innings. They were only 24-24 in one-run games last year, and a terrible 6-13 in games that went into extra innings. Well, it was deja vu all over again at Petco Park on Saturday night. After the Dodgers came back in the eighth to tie a low-scoring contest, they lost 3-2 to the Padres in the tenth, even though neither team recorded a hit in the frame.
Padres go up early
The early part of this one was marked by frustration for the Dodgers hitters. A couple of times, they seemed to have Padre starter Yu Darvish on the ropes, but they couldn’t deliver a knockout punch. After getting some generous calls to get out of the first inning, Darvish couldn’t find the plate in the second. The former Dodger gave up a single and issued to walks to load up the bases with two outs. Then, Friday night’s hero Mookie Betts came to the plate with a chance to draw first blood for the Dodgers. But mighty Mookie struck out, the first of four K’s on the night, and the inning was over.
Meanwhile, the Padres did manage to touch up Dodger starter Tyler Anderson for a couple of runs. In the bottom of the second, Jurickson Profar led off with a double down the left field line, and then advanced to third on an Eric Hosmer ground ball to the right side. Finally, Profar came home with the game’s first run on a medium-deep fly ball to center. The Padres had no need of such execution in the next inning, when the slumping Jake Cronenworth found the seats in right field for a solo homer. It was 2-0 Padres after three.
Darvish shuts down Dodgers
Darvish, who has always pitched well against his old teammates, settled in the rest of the way. He pitched masterfully after that second inning scuffle, and mowed through the powerful Dodger lineup. After the Betts strikeout, not a single Dodger reached base. Darvish finished the night after six masterful innings, retiring the final 13 hitters that he faced. And when Steven Wilson came out of the pen and delivered a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the seventh, it started to look like in wasn’t going to be the Dodgers night.
Dodgers tie it in the eighth
It wasn’t until the eighth inning that the Dodgers got things going with the bats. Chris Taylor and Gavin Lux greeted new reliever Luis Garcia with a pair of singles. But Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman both struck out. The Freeman whiff came off Padres new closer, Taylor Rogers (the twin brother of Tyler of the Giants). Now with two outs and men at first and third, the matter was left to Trea Turner. Turner delivered big-time in the clutch, smashing a double off the left field wall. The ball bounded away from Jurickson Profar and allowed the speedy Lux to score all the way from first to tie the game.
On to extra innings…
However, that was as much as they could muster against Rogers. Max Muncy struck out on three pitches to end the threat. Then, the Dodgers mounted another mini-rally in the ninth with an HBP and a single, but that too was quickly erased with Chris Taylor hit into a double play. Daniel Hudson came on to pitch a scoreless ninth, so off we would go into extra innings for the first time in 2022.
A tale of two sac flies…
As fans know, the extra innings rules that started in 2020 have been retained for at least one more season. So, that means the hated (by me anyway) “ghost runner” who starts each extra frame at second base. For the Dodgers in this one, it was Chris Taylor who began the inning parked at second. But he wasn’t on the paths for long. Gavin Lux hit a long fly out to Profar in left, and Taylor decided to test his arm. He broke for third after the catch, but was gunned down when Profar threw a strike to Manny Machado at third. It was a close play, but Taylor was out, clearing the bases. When the next hitter, Mookie Betts struck out the inning was over, after just two hitters.
Needing only one run to win the game, the Padres played small ball in the bottom of the tenth. Justin Briuhl came on to pitch the inning, but it hardly mattered. Trent Grisham bunted ghost runner CJ Abrams to third, and the next hitter, lofted a medium fly-ball to left center, and the speedy Abrams scampered home with the winning run. Final score 3-2 Padres. So the Friars won the game without the benefit of a hit in their final at-bat. Thanks, Rob Manfred. Thanks a lot.
The Dodgers wrap of their series in San Diego with a Kershaw day on Sunday afternoon. Clayton will face lefty Sean Manaea, who is off to a very good start in 2022 for his new team. Game time, 1:10 pm.
Cans of Corn…
- Seems like Mookie is not quite fixed yet
- The bats were very quiet all night. Other than the big Trea Turner double, there were only four other hits, all singles, all at the bottom of the order.
- Last night’s game was an MLB Network showcase game, called by Bob Costas and Tom Verducci for the network, though our local team was on hand for the coverage as well
- Yu Darvish has been so nasty in his three starts that weren’t against the Giants, but got completely shelled by San Francisco. Do the Giants have some pitch-tipping info on Darvish that nobody else has figured out yet?
- After Sunday’s game the Dodgers’ wrap up the short road trip with a three-game set with the D-backs on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Then, the Detroit Tigers and freshly-minted 3,000 hit man Miguel Cabrera come into LA.
