Dodgers outlast Padres in 16-inning marathon

SAN DIEGO — Okay. Let’s not do this again. In a game that was equal parts brilliant, frustrating, exhilarating, and downright stupid, the Dodgers came through big-time in the wee small hours of the morning. They got a couple of clutch hits in the fifteenth to take the lead. And then, after Fernando Tatis Jr. tied it with a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning, AJ Pollock hit a two-run shot of his own in the top of the sixteenth inning that proved to be the difference in a 5-3 win over the Padres in San Diego.

Snell takes on the Dodgers (again)

Making his fourth start against the Dodgers since that epic World Series Game 6, San Diego’s Blake Snell went to the mound having already had a season’s worth of frustrations. However, his starts against your Los Angeles Dodgers have been solid. He hadn’t gone that deep against the Dodgers, but going into this game his ERA was 2.35 with a 1-0 record over fifteen innings. So, it shouldn’t have been that surprising that Snell was on his game on Wednesday. In fact, in the first seven innings of work, Snell only allowed two Dodger hits, both singles.

Padres get an unearned run in second

Simply put, Walker Buehler was great yet again. But early in the game, a series of misplays and bad luck pushed an unearned run across for the Padres. Jake Cronenworth led off with a ground ball to second baseman Trea Turner‘s right. He scooped up the ball okay, but his off-balance throw to first sailed high and out of play, sending Cronenworth to second on a two-base throwing error. Cronenworth advanced to third on an infield out, and it looked like Walker Buehler might be able to squirm out of the mess that Turner had made for him when he got a second out in the inning. Unfortunately, Padres outfielder Wil Myers hit a little bleeder down the third base line that Justin Turner could only scoop up in frustration. Croneworth crossed home plate safely and the Padres were up 1-0.

Buehler lights out the rest of the way

Walker Buehler would shut down the Padres offense through the bottom of the seventh, when he was pulled in favor of Joe Kelly for the last out of the inning. It was the epitome of a hard-luck start. Though the Padres had barely touched him all night, he left the game trailing 0-1 and potentially on the hook for the loss. However, in anybody’s book it was a fantastic performance: 6.2 IP, 3 H 0 ER, 8 K. It was a pity the Dodgers ran into Snell on a night that Buehler was so brilliant.

Smith ties it up in the eighth

In a move that was almost unprecedented in the career of Blake Snell, Padres’ manager Jayce Tingler sent the lefty out there for the eighth inning with San Diego clinging to a 1-0 lead. I’m sure after being yanked too early in the World Series, Snell appreciated the vote of confidence from his skipper, and quickly got to work in the inning. He got Chris Taylor on a strikeout for the first out of the inning, but then up came late-inning hero Will Smith. And once, again, the bright lights were not too much for the young catcher. Smith tomahawked a fastball from Snell into the left field seats, and turned the game on its head. Tied at one, the Dodgers were back in the ball game.

Bullpen brilliant in eighth and ninth

The Dodgers couldn’t have asked for much more from their pen than what they got on Wednesday night. Blake Treinen mowed down the three hitters he faced in short order, and Kenley Jansen did the same in the ninth, notching his 1,000th career strikeout along the way. And so, it was off to extra innings.

Though the Dodgers have won the last two overtime contests this year, their season record is still pretty lopsidedly bad. And when the Dodgers weren’t able to score AJ Pollok in the top of the tenth, it looked like it was going to be more of the same on Wednesday. However, thanks to a gritty performance from Alex Vesia in the bottom of the tenth, the Padres were stymied as well. Off to the eleventh we went.

Doesn’t anybody want to win this game?

What followed was four straight innings of offensive ineptitude. Both teams squandered numerous plum opportunities to push across a run, but nobody could come up with a key hit. The closest was probably Matt Beaty, who ripped a line shot down the first base line in the thirteenth with a man on third, but Eric Hosmer snagged it, and the run was stranded a couple of batters later.

Trading runs in the fifteenth

As the game entered the fifteenth inning, something had to give. It was already officially the longest extra-inning game under this new goofball format. Sooner or later, somebody would pay attention to those run-probability charts that FanGraphs likes to publish and score the dang runner from second. It was finally the Dodgers that broke through. With Chris Taylor starting the frame at second, Will Smith led off with an infield single to the left side. During Cody Bellinger‘s at-bat, Taylor and Smith pulled off a double steal and the Dodgers had two runners in scoring position with nobody out.

Belli flew out to shallow center for the first out of the inning, but the Dodgers went right to work after that. Pinch hitter Billy McKinney hit an RBI single to left, and then on the next pitch, Trea Turner plated a second Dodger run in the inning with a single of his own. Finally, the 1-1 tie had been broken, and people started to dream of getting to bed before the milkman arrived (if there were still milkmen).

However, in the bottom of the inning Fernando Tatis Jr. had other ideas. He ripped a pitch from reliever Corey Knebel to the opposite field and the ball just eluded Chris Taylor’s glove and bounced off the top of the fence and into the stands for a game-tying home run. Ugh. 3-3. It should be noted that this is the second straight outing that Knebel has given up a gopher ball, so we’ll need to monitor that going forward the rest of the way.

AJ to the rescue!

In the sixteenth, it was a time for heroes. And since people in Los Angeles are very environmentally conscious, we decided to recycle the hero from Tuesday’s game. That’s right, our old buddy AJ Pollock, who stepped to the plate with an 0-for-6 hanging around his neck. Pitcher Daniel Camarena was on his own to face Pollock as the Padres’ pen was pretty much empty by this time of night. Camarena got ahead of Pollock, but then made a mistake with a slider, and Pollock just crushed it. Free runner Justin Turner crossed the plate ahead of him, and the Dodgers were up by two again.

Shane Greene was amazing! (Seriously)

With the Dodgers’ pitching cupboard completely bare, Dave Roberts had to call on newcomer (and former All-Star) Shane Greene to get the final three outs. Dodger fans will recall that Greene was absolutely dreadful in his Dodger debut on Sunday and as he entered the game his ERA was hovering right around 50.00. Which is not good. However, I’ll be damned if Greene didn’t find it in the early morning air of Petco Park. The guy looked unhittable. If you didn’t see it, you’ll have to take my word for it. He was awesome. He got two quick strikeouts to start the sixteenth, and then when Adam Frazier bounced an easy ground ball to Corey Seager the game was mercifully over. Final score: Dodgers 5, Padres 3.

Now I need to go to bed…