Dodgers’ Late Rally Stopped by Unreal Double Play in Loss

A couple of inches here. A couple of inches there. That’s what led to the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss to the San Diego Padres on Thursday night. In the first of a four-game set at Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers fell behind early, but managed to get the offense going again in the seventh and eighth innings, before some excellent San Diego defense and a couple of lucky breaks quashed the comeback in the bottom of the eighth. The Dodgers went quietly in the ninth, and now the series between these two divisional rivals is knotted at two games apiece.

Bats Quiet Early

The game started out as a battle of starting pitching, as both Dodger starter Walker Buehler and his Padres counterpart Ryan Weathers kept opponents’ bats in check in the early going. San Diego managed to scored one run in the fourth inning on a Manny Machado RBI single, and then another in the sixth on a Trent Grisham solo shot, but that was it. Buehler was pretty effective other than that, and he seemed to have rediscovered his strikeout pitch. Using mostly fastballs for swings and misses, Buehler struck out nine over seven innings of work. Again, it was a good, but not spectacular outing. His final line: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 9 K. He threw 101 pitches on Thursday, landing 70 of them for strikes. And in an encouraging development, Buehler gave up no walks.

Still, the Dodgers offense was virtually non-existent in the early going. In fact, for a good long time in the game, the only hit was single from Buehler himself. The Dodgers entered the late innings, sending up the bottom of the order in the home half of the seventh. Then, some unlikely hitting heroes emerged. First, AJ Pollock went yard for his first homer of the young season. Then, Sheldon Neuse (remember that name) went back-to-back with Pollock, hitting a home run that perhaps surprised even him, as he was practically around the bases by the time it landed. It was the first career home run for the newest Dodger.

With the score now knotted at two, Blake Treinen came into the game in the top of the eighth to try to keep in right there. Unfortunately, he was unable to do so. On the first two pitches of the inning, Treinen was greeted with consecutive singles. Suddenly, the Padres had runners at the corners with nobody out. Treinen managed to get Fernando Tatis, Jr. to ground into a double play, but the Dodgers decided to play the at-bat at double play depth, allowing Jurickson Profar to scamper home from third during the play.

Now down by one, the Dodgers needed some late-inning magic to win. After Justin Turner led off with a solid single, it seemed that the Dodgers got just that. Will Smith ripped a 2-2 pitch down the left field line that couldn’t have been place any better. The ball bounced off the chalk line, and after appeal, Smith was awarded a ground-rule double. Okay, Dodger fans, here we go. Men on second and third, nobody out. Sounds like runs, amirite?

Not so fast. The Padres defense wasn’t down for that plan. First, Max Muncy grounded into a harmless infield put out that did not advance the runners. Then, up came our new best friend Sheldon Neuse. Neuse, in the game because BOTH Chris Taylor and Zach McKinstry were unavailable, was the unlikeliest of candidates to be a late inning hero. But heck, this is Hollywood. Why not?

For a brief moment, it looked like Neuse would deliver a go-ahead hit. He absolutely scorched a ball that looked like it was headed into center field. Somehow, second baseman Jake Cronenworth was able to get a glove on the 105-mile-an-hour rocket off Neuse’s bat.

The ball bounced a few feet away from Cronenworth as his sprawled on the infield dirt, but somehow he was able to corral the ball and flip it to Fernando Tatis, Jr. who relayed it to first for an inning ending double play. The plays at BOTH bases were close. You’ve heard of a bang-bang play? This one was a bang-bang, bang-bang play.

And that was it, Mark Melancon struck out the side in the ninth, and the game was over. Ugh.

The Dodgers have now dropped three out of four. They try to get back on the winning side of things on Friday night. We have a repeat of Kershaw vs. Darvish, so runs may be at a premium yet again. Game time, 7:10 pm.