Sloppy eighth inning leads to Padres sweep over Dodgers

SAN DIEGO — Ugh. After the Dodgers had scrapped their way back to a tie ball game, they were their own worst enemy on Wednesday night. They gave the Padres a couple of extra outs in the eighth inning and they were made to suffer the consequences in a 5-3 loss. It was the first San Diego sweep of the Dodgers since 2013, and the first one in Petco Park since 2010.

Homers in the first for Padres. Again.

Once again, the Padres put the Dodgers on their heels in the bottom of the first inning. After recording the first two outs of the frame, starter Trevor Bauer gave up back-to-back home runs to Jake Cronenworth (sound familiar?) and Manny Machado (sound familiar?), and quickly the Dodgers were in an 0-2 hole.

Bauer keeps it close, Dodgers tie it up

Actually, after that rocky start, Bauer pitched a good ball game. He pitched five scoreless innings after that, and saw his teammates crawl back into the game in the top of the fourth. In that inning, Will Smith singled home Max Muncy, who had doubled for the first hit of Padres starter Joe Musgrove. Then, when Matt Beaty hit a bounding ball to the right side, first baseman Eric Hosmer had an inning ending double play in mind. He whipped it to shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. for the force out at second on Smith, but Tatis’s relay to Musgrove covering short was in the dirt and bounced away, allowing Cody Bellinger to score. Just like that we had a tie ball game on our hands.

Caratini joins the SD home run party

However, Dave Roberts got a little greedy with Trevor Bauer. After he had made it through the sixth with no further damage, Roberts trotted him out to pitch again in the seventh, even though he was close to 100 pitches on the night. Sure enough, the first hitter that Bauer faced, catcher Victor Caratini, smashed a home run just over the right field fence to break the tie. Now trailing 3-2, Bauer was lifted when he walked the next hitter. Blake Treinen came on in relief and in just eleven pitches, he managed to put out the fire and retire the side. Overall, it was a decent night for Bauer that would have been better if Roberts had trusted his bullpen a bit more. Bauer’s final line for the night 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 10 K.

Max and JT clutch in the eighth

In the visitors’ half of the eighth, it looked like the Dodgers were going to go quietly as reliever Emilio Pagan got two quick outs. However, the Dodgers are not World Series champs for nothing. They got some timely hitting from some top of the order guys. Max Muncy blistered a double to right to put the tying run on base. And then, in a very clutch at-bat, Justin Turner singled to the opposite field, driving in Muncy with the tying run.

Bad defense, poor control cost the Dodgers dearly

The bottom of the eighth was, to put it mildly, bad. First, Matt Beaty, filling in for an ailing Mookie Betts in right, took a weird route on a Jake Cronenworth fly ball and played himself into a “double” that bounced off Beaty’s glove. Then, when Manny Machado hit a slow grounder to third, Justin Turner hesitated after fielding the ball to check Cronenworth at second. That little double clutch gave Machado enough time to beat the throw to first (sure, Manny. now you hustle!). Suddenly there were two men on and nobody out.

This ended the night for Treinen. Victor Gonzalez came in to face Eric Hosmer, who bunted the runners into scoring position. After an intentional walked loaded the bases, Gonzalez was facing Trent Grisham. Victor’s command was not sharp, and though he got it to a 3-2 he ended up losing him to a walk to score the go-ahead run. Gonzalez left in favor of Joe Kelly, who gave up a sacrifice fly to score a fifth Padres’ run before retiring the side.

Ninth inning comeback falls short

Now trailing 5-3, the Dodgers attempted a third comeback for the evening. Will Smith led off with a single to right, so immediately the tying run was coming to the plate in the person of Austin Barnes, who had homered the night before off Padres closer Mark Melancon. He gave a Melancon pitch a ride to center, but it stayed in the yard and was caught by Trent Grisham on the warning track for out number one.

After a wild pitch and a walk to Gavin Lux, it was Albert Pujols‘s turn to take a shot at tying the ball game. He got quickly in an 0-2 hole, but battled back into the count. Then, he smoked a Melancon fastball down the third base line. Unfortunately, Manny Machado was playing him perfectly and was able to snag the ball with only a step or two to his right. Machado then alertly whipped the ball to second to catch Will Smith for a game-ending double play. Put it in the books folks. Three straight additions to the “L” column.

Dodgers swept. Not. Good.

There is no easy way to say this. The Padres simply outplayed the Dodgers in this series. They had better starting pitching, more timely hitting, more home runs, better defense. Just all around better. The last two games could have gone either way, but in the end, the Padres made the plays and the Dodgers didn’t.

It’s not even the mid-point of the season, but we’re far enough along not to simply shrug this off with an “Oh well.” The Dodgers need to be better in all aspects of the game. Nobody is going to go away in the NL West this year. They’re going to have to start playing a whole lot better if they want to be on top at the end of September. Hopefully these losses in June can give the Dodgers motivation to do just that.

Cubbies come to LA for four

The Dodgers are home for the Cubs on Thursday night to start a four game series. Walker Buehler vs. former Padre Zach Davies in the opener. 7:10 start at the Ravine. You know what to do Dodgers. Now do it.