Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — We’ll all knew that when this lineup started getting production from up and down the batting order, they’d be an absolute wrecking ball to other teams’ pitching staffs. Well, welcome to the future. In a great team win, the Dodgers came from behind and beat the Padres 8-3, putting the Friars even further back in the rearview mirror for the NL West crown.
Will Smith provides some early spark
Dodger starter Andrew Heaney gave up some hard contact in the top of the first, a double by Jurickson Profar and a verrry loud out from Juan Soto, but in the end, he hung a zero on the scoreboard. And in the bottom of the second, his catcher gave the Dodgers an early lead. Leading off the inning, Will Smith took a 1-1 slider from Padres starter Mike Clevinger and just destroyed it. It sailed over the left centerfield fence and the Dodgers were out to a 1-0 lead.
Then in the bottom of the third, Smith was at it again. He followed up a pair of singles from Mookie Betts and Trea Turner with a two-out single of his own to score Betts from third. And Padres fans everywhere started to feel like this game might not be going their way.
Padres take advantage of miscue, score three
In the top of the fourth, the Padres got right back into the ballgame, thanks to some sloppiness on the Dodger infield. First, Juan Soto led off by hitting a little check swing into the shift on right side. The shift was on, but a charging Max Muncy couldn’t cleanly field the ball, so it was an infield single for Soto. Even if he did make the play, it was doubtful that Max could have nabbed Soto at first, so no error on the play.
Then, after Manny Machado lined out, slugger Josh Bell hit a slow roller to the left side. Again the Dodgers had the shift on and again they couldn’t find the handle. Gavin Lux bobbled the ball before making the toss to second, and a play that might have been a twin killing in a regular defensive alignment ended up with no outs on the play.
Suddenly, after giving up very soft contact to two of the biggest power threats in baseball, Andrew Heaney found himself in a jam. And two pitches later, the Padres had a run on the board. Brandon Drury made up for some of his sloppy infield play in Friday night’s contest by banging a solid double past the diving Max Muncy into the left field corner. Soto scored easily on the play and the Dodgers’ lead was cut to 2-1.
The next hitter, Jake Cronenworth, hit a grounder to the right side that allowed Bell to come home as Gavin Lux conceded the run and took the sure out at first, thus tying the score. Wil Myers quickly broke the tie with an opposite field single to right. Heaney had to have left the mound shaking his head after that inning. The Padres had made solid contact only a couple of times, but somehow they were now leading 3-2.
Huge blast from Muncy puts Blue back on top
The Padres’ lead lasted an inning. In the bottom of the fifth, the Dodgers turned the game on its head. Mookie Betts led off with his second straight single, a line drive into left that died in front of Jurickson Profar. He then stole second and took third on a Freddie Freeman fly ball to right. Clevinger then plunked Will Smith with a pitch and that put the runners cornered with two out. Smith took off for second during Max Muncy’s at-bat, but the pitch got away from Clevinger and was up around Muncy’s head. Catcher Austin Nola had no play on the ball, so Smith was safely into second.
In the at-bat, the tiring Clevinger was leaving everything high, so Muncy knew exactly where to zero in his sights at the box. He got a hanging slider and just pulverized it. It flew deep into the LA night and landed in the Padres bullpen for a three-run homer. The Dodgers were up 5-3, and they would never look back.
It seems like Dave Roberts confidence that Muncy would eventually come around is starting to be paid off on the field. In his last seven games, Munce is hitting .292 with an OPS of 1.004. Yes, sir!
“He’s been on the come the last 10 days,” Roberts said of Muncy after the game. “Certainly the results [have been there], and it was a big at-bat, a big hit for us. That continues to build the confidence. Like all players, you still need to see results.”
Dodgers tack on, get solid work from pen
The Dodgers added three more runs to the scoreboard before this one was over. They got two in the seventh on a couple of sacrifice flies from Freddie Freeman and Will Smith. And then in the eighth Gavin Lux and Cody Bellinger got in on the action with a pair of doubles that plated the Dodgers eighth run of the game.
And, in no surprise the bullpen was great when Andrew Heaney exited after going 4.2 innings (because of the Lux error, no earned runs on the night). The big inning was the eighth, when it seemed like the Padres might have something cooking against Evan Phillips. They got the first two men of the inning on base, thanks to a walk to Juan Soto and a bloop single from Manny Machado that was just out of the reach of Freddie Freeman. Suddenly, the outcome of the game didn’t look so certain. But Evan Phillips dug deep and did Evan Phillips things. He retired the Padres in order after that on a pop-out, a flyout and a strikeout. Good morning. Good Afternoon. Good Night.
Reyes Moronta wrapped things up with a quick ninth. In all it was 4.1 innings of shutout ball from the bullpen, adding to their already impressive streak of late.
Anderson to the mound as Dodgers go for the sweep
On Sunday afternoon, the Dodgers will be on Sunday Night Baseball, as the entire nation will have the opportunity to watch the Dodgers go for the sweep. Game time: 4;10 PDT. So far in this series, the Dodgers have outscored the Padres 16-4, so I think we can see which way this thing is headed. We shall see. The last time the Dodgers played the Padres on Sunday Night was that awful Kenley Jansen meltdown game last season, so you never can tell. Baseball, after all, is still baseball.
Cans of Corn…
- So many hitting stars in this one: Will Smith, 2-for-2, 3 RBI. Max Muncy, 1-for-4, 3 RBI, Mookie Betts, 3-for-5. Gavin Lux, 2-for-4.
- Good work from Andrew Heaney tonight. Hopefully, we can start getting some more length out of him soon.
- Max after the game: “We’re a really deep lineup. We’re a really, really good lineup. It kind of seems like our lineup has been forgotten about with a lot of this stuff that has been happening. It’s been kind of nice to go out there and prove again that we’re one of the best lineups in baseball, and there’s no question about that.”
- What he said.
