Dodgers 10, Padres 4: Austin Barnes and Alex Wood demolish San Diego

The Dodgers opened their 3-game series in San Diego with a 10-4 victory on Friday night. It was a 2-man wrecking crew — coincidentally the battery — who did all the damage.

Things got started early as the Dodgers loaded the bases in the first inning. Despite two quick outs, the Dodgers were able to load the bases on a single by Justin Turner and two walks drawn by Cody Bellinger and Logan Forsythe. That brought Austin Barnes to the plate, and he did his best Yasmani Grandal impression.

His third home run of the season, his first career grand slam and a bright future for this young man. Oh, and he added a 3-run home run in the sixth inning.

Before the top of the second inning got underway, a weird thing happened. Two of baseball’s most mild-mannered managers, well, weren’t so mild-mannered.

Alex Wood (who was great, again) believed Padres’ left fielder Jose Pirela was stealing signs when he was on second base. He called him out for it. Before the start of the inning, the home plate umpire called Dave Roberts and Padres manager Andy Green out to, presumably, make sure things didn’t escalate. From the San Diego Union Tribune‘s Dennis Lin:

“Following a brief exchange, Green was walking back to the home dugout when Roberts, evidently responding to something Green said, went aggressively toward the Padres manager and appeared to push him. Both benches and bullpens spilled onto the field, with players and coaches getting between the two skippers. In the midst of the fracas, which resulted in the ejection of both managers, Roberts pointed in Green’s direction and appeared to mouth, ‘You and me.'”

And here’s a GIF of that last part:

And the extended version that will be deleted within the next 12-18 hours:

Love you, Davey.

Wood proceeded to strike out the side in the second and third innings en route to eight strikeouts on the night. Despite a bit of a rocky fourth inning in which he allowed a run, Wood was stellar one again: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R/ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 94 pitches, 58 strikes, 6/2 GO/AO. His ERA and FIP dropped slightly to 1.83 and 2.10 on the season. He’s been worth nearly 3 wins in just 73 2/3 innings.

Hear me out: Alex … Good.

——-

Turner launched his sixth home run of the season — a 2-run shot — in the fourth inning. He’s the best hitter on the team and is having a fantastic season. Chris Taylor then drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning to give the Dodgers their seventh run of the night.

That is indeed wild.

Forsythe added four hits and was on base five times. Taylor had two hits and Enrique Hernandez filled in at shortstop (1-for-4, walk) for Corey Seager, who got the night off.

Yasiel Puig made a nice catch and this was the end result.

Grant Dayton threw 1 2/3 innings of 1-run ball. Sergio Romo couldn’t protect an 8-run lead, as he allowed a 2-run home run to Hector Sanchez in the ninth inning. Luis Avilan cleaned things up by striking out Wil Myers.

The Dodgers improved to 54-28 on the season — a 107-win pace — and they’re 3 1/2 games up on Arizona and 6 games up on Colorado. Rich Hill (4.60 ERA, 4.77 FIP) and his new toy (a cutter) gets the ball tomorrow night. He’s taking on left-hander Dillon Overton (6.38 ERA, 5.43 FIP). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Pacific time.

About Dustin Nosler

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Dustin Nosler began writing about the Dodgers in July 2009 at his blog, Feelin' Kinda Blue. He co-hosted a weekly podcast with Jared Massey called Dugout Blues. He was a contributor/editor at The Hardball Times and True Blue LA. He graduated from California State University, Sacramento, with his bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in digital media. While at CSUS, he worked for the student-run newspaper The State Hornet for three years, culminating with a 1-year term as editor-in-chief. He resides in Stockton, Calif.