Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — The Dodgers have had some great nights in the postseason. This was not one of them. Despite taking an early lead on three solo home runs, the Dodgers proceeded to squander chance after chance after chance, and just couldn’t break through against Yu Darvish and the Padres pen. Meanwhile, a fielding error in the 6th inning opened the door for the Padres to take the lead in a very frustrating night at Dodger Stadium. In the end it was a 5-3 loss to the Friars, and the best-of-five series is knotted at a game apiece.
Kershaw shaky early, but settles down
Clayton Kershaw did nothing in the early going to shake that “underperforms in the postseason” label that’s followed him his whole career. Did he pitch badly? No. In fact, he retired the last nine Padres he faced. But there was too much traffic early on, and too many chances for the Padres to score. In the first Manny Machado belted a solo home run to put the Padres on the board first. Then, in the third, Manny struck again with a run-scoring double, and Jake Cronenworth followed it up with an infield groundout that scored another. After that, Kershaw settled in, but the damage had been done. In this series the Dodgers two aces have almost identical numbers: 5 IP, 3 ER. Very so-so performances from two guys who seemed to be rolling heading into the playoffs. We’ll see what each will do if the fates decide to give them another start in October.
Three solo shots provide scoring punch
The entirety of the Dodgers’ run production in this one was courtesy of the long ball. Freddie Freeman in the first, Max Muncy in the second, and Trea Turner in the third. When Turner touched home plate, the score was tied at 3-3, and both teams would go into the middle innings looking to break through and take the lead.
Unearned run gives Padres the lead
Brusdar Graterol was the first out of the pen in this one, and he pitched a lot better than the box score will show. On the first pitch of the inning, Graterol gave up a weakly hit liner off the bat of Brandon Drury that dropped in front of Cody Bellinger for a hit. Then, Jake Cronenworth grounded into a fielder’s choice to Freddie Freeman for the first out of the inning.
That brought up the key play of the inning, and probably the game. Wil Myers hit another ground ball, this one to Trea Turner. Slowly hit, but pretty routine. Trea might have rushed his exchange a bit and ended up bobbling the ball, getting nobody out in the end. Instead of a double play (which was an outside possibility on the ball), the Dodgers were now in deep trouble: first and second with just one out. Jurickson Profar immediately made the Dodgers pay for the Turner blunder. He hit a ground ball to the right side that just evaded the glove of a diving Gavin Lux and rolled into right field. Cronenworth scored on the play, and the Padres were back in the lead. And, if not for a great play by Graterol on a squeeze play, and a super catch in center by Cody Bellinger, the inning could have been worse. A lot worse.
The Padres tacked on one final run in the top of the 8th when Jake Cronenworth teed off on a Blake Treinen pitch for a solo homer to make the score 5-3. And with the way the Dodgers were hitting in this one, two runs seemed a big mountain to climb. It indeed was, but not for lack of opportunity.
Can somebody please get a clutch hit? Anybody?
0-for-8. That is really the only stat you need to know. The Dodgers were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position on Wednesday night. Even if they’d only managed one hit in those situations, it would have completely changed the complexion of the game. The Dodgers got plenty of hits in the game: 11 in total. But nobody, and I mean nobody, came through with a big hit when it was needed.
After scoring in each of the first three innings, the Dodgers got runners on base in every inning but one the rest of the way. Sometimes multiple runners. Sometimes a guy at third. Sometimes a guy at third with nobody out. And what happened each time? Bupkes. Nada. Zilch.
The biggest headscratcher came in the 8th, when Cody Bellinger was lifted for a pinch hitter to bat against Padres closer Josh Hader. Dave Roberts went with Austin Barnes to hit for the former MVP, despite not having a great track record against Hader. The move caused a lot of chatter on the interwebs this evening, because both Chris Taylor and Miguel Vargas might have been more attractive right-hand options. Barnesy had a good cut at Hader, but ended up flying out to center to end the threat (again).
The Dodgers pretty much beat themselves in this one, and if they don’t come back to win the series, this will be a game that is talked about for a long time this winter.
Gonsolin surprise starter in Game 3
After the game was over, Dave Roberts announce that instead of Tyler Anderson (whom we’d been expecting), it would be Tony Gonsolin who would get the start. I guess this makes sense in that Gonsolin probably won’t go very deep, and with the off day on Thursday, he will have his full complement of bullpen pieces to play with. Blake Snell gets the ball for San Diego. Game time on Friday: 5:35 PDT. Let’s get back on track! Pronto!
