Dodgers 5, Padres 0: Teoscar Hernandez’s grand slam creates record Petco Park sadness (sorta)

Chad Moriyama 05/11/2024 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

After a great pitchers’ duel last night, the Dodgers and Padres seemed headed for another one tonight. Thankfully though, Teoscar Hernandez blew the game open after the mid-point and the Dodgers were able to cruise behind James Paxton and friends the rest of the way in a 5-0 victory.

The Dodgers even the series and bounce back from the win streak being snapped, all in front of a record crowd. Granted, a lot of that were Dodger fans, but still!

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While Matt Waldron had a disaster his last time out, he was also effective back when he faced the Dodgers, and that trend continued today.

Things started well for the offense at least, as with two down Freddie Freeman yanked a knuckleball that floated down out of the zone down the right-field line for his fourth homer of the year to make it 1-0.

However, Waldron rebounded with a clean 2nd, and a walk and wild pitch with nobody out was stranded in the 3rd. The 4th was the same story, as a lead-off double was also stranded despite advancing to third with one out on a passed ball, as the lineup continued to miss their chances.

Waldron seemed to settle back in after a clean 5th, but after he issued a walk to Shohei Ohtani, Padres manager Mike Shildt wasn’t about to let him face Freddie a third time (2-for-2 to that point). That brought in Adrian Morejon, and while he did get Freeman, he then balked Ohtani to second, walked Will Smith, and uncorked a wild pitch to advance them both before also walking Max Muncy to load the bases.

That brought in Enyel De Los Santos, who got ahead of Teoscar with the first two pitches. However, he laid off a slider and then got another, but this one was a hanger in the middle of the zone. Teoscar absolutely obliterated it for his 11th homer of the year and a sudden 5-0 lead.

As all of this was going on, Paxton sure continued his run of effectiveness that he began in his last start. After giving up a single each in the 1st and 2nd innings, he set down the side in order in both the 3rd and 4th.

Paxton first ran into trouble in the 5th through a lead-off double, but he worked around it with a fly out, pop out, and a strikeout to end the threat. He then completed his run of zeroes in the 6th, giving up just a single again to complete his outing.

Bit more strikeouts are nice, but … no walks?! NO WALKS! A true win: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 95 Pitches.

Out of the pen first was Gus Varland in the 7th, who got a strikeout amongst a clean inning, thanks in part to James Outman‘s diving play in center.

Next up was Ryan Yarbrough, who continues to be a reliable option, and he got an unlucky but lucky scoreless inning. A two-out single was only such because it hit the bag, and another single followed, but he was saved of a double and at least one run as Muncy continues to thrive at third.

Due to the lineup not being able to capitalize on a huge chance in the 7th, and not getting anything in the 8th or 9th as well, it was a five-run lead for J.P. Feyereisen to close up shop. He made things drama-free, as another nice play by Muncy at third was followed by a strikeout, and after hitting a batter when a breaking ball got away from him, he ended the game with a lineout.

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Perhaps the biggest news is Shohei’s back.

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto does not make an effort to dodge foul balls, at least.

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27-14, and they are still comfortably ahead in the NL West.

The series finale will be a rubber match and an early game at 10:10 AM HT/1:10 PM PT/4:10 PM ET with Walker Buehler making his second start of the year against seemingly rejuvenated Yu Darvish.

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