Steve Webb
Game 159, 9/26/2024: Dodgers 7, Padres 2
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Can I get an amen from the congregation!? After one of the most challenging seasons in recent memory, the Dodgers will end the season exactly where they started it: in first place in the NL West. For the eleventh time in the last twelve seasons, the Los Angeles Dodgers are division champions. In the last home game of the season, the Dodgers outlasted Joe Musgrove, came from behind, put up a huge five-run seventh inning, and won a hard-fought 7-2 victory over the San Diego Padres to clinch the West. No more math necessary. The Dodgers reign supreme once again.
In this potential clinching game, Walker Buehler got the call from skipper Dave Roberts to start the game. And he turned in one of his best starts of the year. There was a little traffic, mostly on ground ball singles, but the powerful Padres lineup couldn’t break through in the first four innings. Unfortunately, San Diego starter Joe Musgrove was sharp as well, pounding the strike zone and keeping the Dodgers off balance for much of his start.
It was the fifth inning when the Padres finally broke through with a run. Walker started to show signs of losing a bit of his edge. He needed eight pitches to get the first out, a pop up off the bat of Jake Cronenworth. Then, he had eight hitter (and old friend) David Peralta in an 0-2 hole and then gave him a free pass on four straight balls. Then, catcher Kyle Higashioka ripped a ground rule double into the left field corner that pushed Peralta to third. Contact King Luis Arraez was the next hitter, and promptly hit a bouncer to Freddie Freeman that easily scored Peralta with the game’s first run. Buehler was able to get out of the inning with no more damage, but if the Dodgers were going to win this one, it would have to be in come-from-behind fashion. Though he came out of the game behind on the scoreboard, Buehler has to be commended for pitching a great game and showing flashes of that Walker F’N Buehler that we know and love. His line for the night: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. More of this, please.
After the Dodgers were blanked in the bottom of the fifth, Dave Roberts went to his bullpen, much to the objection of Walker Buehler. The first man up was Evan Phillips, and he promptly gave up two straight singles to Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado. Then, on a bunt back to the pitcher from Jackson Merrill, Evan Phillips went to first, even though he had a shot at the runner at third. It turned out to be an unfortunate choice. The next hitter Xander Bogaerts plated Profar with a sacrifice fly to center fielder Andy Pages, and the Dodgers were now chasing a pair of runs. Lefty Anthony Banda, just returned from the IL, was able to get the Dodgers back to the bat rack with Machado stranded at third, but the Dodger bats needed to come alive quickly if they were going to pop the corks in this one.
The score stayed at 2-0 through the next inning and a half. Until the turning point of the game: the top of the seventh. In a dramatic inning that shifted momentum in favor of the Dodgers, Max Muncy led off with a walk, setting the stage for Will Smith, who smashed a game-tying two-run home run to center field, his 20th of the season, leveling the score at 2-2. Dils got a center-cut four-seamer from Musgrove, and he deposited it into the netting in straightaway centerfield, 426 feet from home plate. There was life once again in Dodger Stadium, as the game was back to square one with nobody out.
The Padres responded to the blast by Smith by bringing in lights-out reliever Tanner Scott to replace Joe Musgrove, but the Dodgers kept the pressure on. Pinch-hitter Kike Hernández singled to center, followed by Andy Pages reaching first on catcher interference on an 0-2 count. That turned over the lineup for you-know-who.
Shohei Ohtani dug in and decided to do Shohei things. He delivered a clutch go-ahead RBI single, bringing in Hernández with the go-ahead run and advancing Pages to third. A throwing error by Fernando Tatis Jr. allowed Ohtani to take second.
Mookie Betts followed with a two-run single, plating Pages and Ohtani, giving the Dodgers a comfy 5-2 lead. Freddie Freeman grounded out, moving Betts to second, but left the game with an injury; what looked like a nasty twisted ankle. The lone bummer of the entire evening. We’ll have to see how that plays out. Fingers crossed for Freddie.
The Dodgers managed to add a little insurance in the eighth on an Andy Pages two-run homer, and Blake Treinen and Michael Kopech took the game home, pitching two scoreless innings to, in the words of REO Speedwagon, “bring that ship into the shore.”
With the epic series against the Padres behind them, the Dodgers hit the road for the final three games of the season. They’ll be in the ERA-killing capital of the Free World, Denver Colorado for a matchup with the cellar dwelling Rockies. It’s hard to estimate the pitching matchups right now, but we do know that Yoshinobu Yamamoto will probably be seeing a start on Saturday. And probably a bullpen game of some sort on Friday. Sunday is anybody’s guess. You could see pretty much anybody on the mound for the season finale.
We do know what the Rockies will be trotting out there. On Friday night, it’s going to be Cal Quantrill (8-10, 4.72 ERA, 110 SO). Saturday and Sunday will be given to Antonio Senzatela and Ryan Feltner. Game time on Friday and Saturday will be 5:10 PDT. On Sunday, first pitch will be the same all over baseball, 12:10 PDT. And then, the Hunt for Blue October begins. Let’s hope it’s a good movie this time around.
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