Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After the Padres evened the series last night and ended the four-game winning streak of the Dodgers, the two teams had close-fought game in which the Dodgers came up short in a 3-1 loss.
That’s the second loss in a row at home.
TIME TO SELL
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After getting shelled by the Dodgers last time out, Chris Paddack was motivated and it showed. He went 5.2 innings, giving up only three hits and a walk while striking out six. Notably, he wiggled out of a bases loaded and one out jam in the 5th, getting Kenta Maeda to strikeout and then getting Joc Pederson to ground out, thus ending the threat.
Meanwhile, Maeda actually pitched wonderfully. However, as is usually the case when he has trouble, he was bitten by two mistakes. Hunter Renfroe in the 7th clobbered a homer to center for a 1-0 Padres lead and Manuel Margot in the 8th skied a two-run homer to left to make it 3-0.
Two outs. Two strikes. Too late.@Hunter_Renfroe 💪 #FriarFaithful pic.twitter.com/6x4Vwapl00
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 7, 2019
MarGoing, MarGone! 💣@manuelmargot • #FriarFaithful pic.twitter.com/wCBmdpoMnI
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 7, 2019
Maeda went 7.2 innings, giving up just four hits and a walk while striking out six, but the homers ultimately ruined what could’ve been one of the best starts as a Dodger.
After he exited, Zac Rosscup entered and recorded the final out of the 8th. Joe Kelly got the 9th and continued his run of excellent work, getting the side in order with two strikeouts on just eight pitches.
Which brings us back to the actual issue, which was the offense. While they got Paddack out of the game after 5.2 innings, they struggled to mount much of an attack. They finally pushed a run across in the 8th behind an Alex Verdugo double and a Justin Turner infield single that Manny Machado threw down the line, but that only cut the lead to 3-1.
They managed just six hits and a walk, which isn’t going to do much of anything against anybody.
All-Star break coming at the right time, it seems.
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The Dodgers fall to 60-31 on the season and are currently 14 games up on the Rockies in the NL West.
The two teams will end the series and the first half of the season tomorrow at 10:10 AM HST/1:10 PM PST/4:10 PM EST with Ross Stripling against Joey Lucchesi.
