Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Coming off a disappointing series against the Giants, the Dodgers were looking to rebound against a new-look Padres team that will presumably compete with them for the division in the years to come. After getting down 3-0 early, the Dodgers chipped away and eventually completed the comeback in a 4-3 victory.
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Clayton Kershaw started and got off to a rocky start, allowing a two-run homer to Manny Machado in the 1st in his first plate appearance against the Dodgers. Manny admired it, which was justified cause it was a moonshot.
Getting got by Manny is one thing, but getting got by Ian Kinsler and his .566 OPS is another, yet that is exactly what happened in the 3rd to put the Dodgers down 3-0.
Thankfully, that was all Kershaw would give up on the day. He went six innings and gave up six hits, walking one and striking out six.
The homers are obviously not great, but the fact that the strikeouts appear to be returning even when he doesn’t have his best is hopeful.
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On the other side of things, Eric Lauer continued his dominance against the Dodgers. While he got some help from the defense, he limited the Dodgers to just a walk through four innings.
Thankfully, it was Chris Taylor of all people who finally got to him, lifting a ball for a homer to left to cut the lead to 3-1.
In the 6th, they finally strung something together against Lauer, loading the bases with nobody out after an Enrique Hernandez single, Cody Bellinger double, and Justin Turner walk forced the Padres to turn to the pen. However, the Dodgers only got one run out of that sequence, coming on a Corey Seager sacrifice fly to make it 3-2 for the Padres.
Still, the chipping away paid dividends in the 7th, when Austin Barnes led the inning off by barely getting it over the wall in left for a game-tying dong.
Then in the 9th, the Dodgers got to Kirby Yates of all people. Barnes started things again with a double and he scored on a Muncy single down the line that deflected into foul territory off the glove of Eric Hosmer.
Muncy also did this ballet act to save Barnes an error (and maybe the game).
The Dodgers pen came up big on the other side, as Dylan Floro went 1.2 scoreless innings, only allowing a walk. And Scott Alexander took over in the 8th and closed the frame out.
After taking the lead, they handed that over to Kenley Jansen in the 9th, but things started ominously as a grounder up the middle was booted by Corey Seager. However, Kenley rebounded by striking out the side, looking about as good as he has all season.
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Since they won, I figure it’s a good a time as any to complain about how terrible this umpire’s zone was. Good gracious.
Oh right, Bellinger did seem to injure his shoulder on a dive for a grounder in the 6th.
However, he rebounded and looked generally healthy afterward.
Still something to monitor.
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The victory gets the Dodgers to 21-13 on the year (100-win pace) and back to .500 on the road at 9-9. They’ll do it again tomorrow at 2:40 PM HST/5:40 PM PST/8:40 PM EST with a matchup of lefties between Rich Hill and Joey Lucchesi.
