Padres 6, Dodgers 2: Unable to rebound from Julio’s disastrous beginning

This series between the Dodgers and the Padres is certainly important, though most didn’t think it would be a fight for second place in the NL West in June.

Winners of three in a row, the Dodgers had their hopes of extending that streak further early on as the Padres cruised to a 6-2 win to open the series.

——

Julio Urias gave up four runs before he recorded an out and surrendered six total as he struggled through five innings. There was a lot of talk about spin rate, but his has been largely unchanged all year.

Think it's fair to speculate on like control/command since most pitchers were using at least sunscreen and there has to be an adjustment there, but the spin rate thing is just a made-up narrative in this case.

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) June 22, 2021

The pen closed with four scoreless, two from Phil Bickford, and one each from David Price and then Joe Kelly.

Yu Darvish was impressive, striking out 11 in six innings, giving up just a solo shot to Mookie Betts.

Mooookie. pic.twitter.com/ByZ8chmMhY

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 22, 2021

Tim Hill and Austin Adams got a scoreless 7th, though Will Smith did hit a solo shot off Craig Stammen in the 8th.

Emilio Pagan closed out the 9th without drama to end it.

Thrilling stuff.

——

Joe Kelly looks like he's being questioned about selling alcohol to minors outside the liquor store pic.twitter.com/jCqnr49qJy

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) June 22, 2021

——

The Dodgers fall to 44-28 on the year.

The series continues tomorrow at 4:00 PM HST/7:00 PM PST/10:00 PM EST with Clayton Kershaw facing Blake Snell.