Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After a day off and a bunch of trades to remake the Dodgers roster, they opened their two-game set in San Diego with a brutal loss against the Padres. The backup plan went out and put up a shocking five-run inning in the 1st to leap into the lead, and it appeared like the Dodgers might actually hang on to win. However, two homers in the 9th for the Padres off Blake Treinen tied things up, and after the impotent offense continued to be dominated in extras, the Padres walked it off in the 10th for a 6-5 loss.
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Padres starter Matt Waldron has been an elite option after a bit of a slow start. However, the Dodgers started strong against him in the 1st, as Shohei Ohtani drew a lead-off walk, stole second, and Will Smith singled to corner the runners. Gavin Lux followed by driving a ball to center for a sac fly and a 1-0 lead.
After a strikeout for another out, the inning looked done, but Jason Heyward grounded a double down the line in right to put two in scoring position, and Andy Pages capitalized on that with a single to drive in a pair and make it 3-0.
That left a runner on with two out for the … red hot (???) Cavan Biggio, who smacked his fifth homer of the year to push the lead to 5-0 in a flash.
Five runs in the first? We're Cavan a good time. pic.twitter.com/fcEE76ET3B
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 31, 2024
From there the bats looked a lot more like I expected, as the rest of the way they only mounted a two-out rally in the 6th thanks to back-to-back walks, and then loaded the bases with two outs in the 7th.
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Tyler Glasnow looked to continue get his year back on track after struggling in his last 10 starts or so and basically getting rest on the IL, and he started with a clean frame in the 1st. However, Manny Machado led the 2nd off with a solo shot to cut the lead to 5-1.
The 3rd didn’t look like a problem after the first two outs, but then a double, single, and double drove in a pair of runs and the lead was shrunk to 5-3.
Fortunately, Glasnow settled into the game and went shockingly deep. Over the next four innings, he gave up just a single that was erased by a double play, an infield single, and a walk to give the Dodgers a much-needed quality start: 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 102 Pitches.
Eight strikeouts for Tyler tonight. ? pic.twitter.com/05iU6wEJf2
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 31, 2024
Surprisingly it was Anthony Banda instead of Alex Vesia in the 8th with lefties coming up, but that’s likely due to the latter’s decreasing velocity, potentially due to tiring. Banda did his job with a pair of groundouts and a strikeout.
The game then belonged to Blake Treinen in the 9th facing the heart of the Padres order, and he started by giving up a Manny Machado homer to cut the lead to 5-4. After seemingly getting back on track with a strikeout, he then gave up a towering homer on a cutter up to Jackson Merrill to tie things up at 5-5.
Bonus baseball!
Things started with Robert Suarez, who got a pair of strikeouts and a fly out to ensure the Manfred Runner didn’t move. Alex Vesia then entered for the 10th and issued a walk, a sac bunt moved both runners over, and things were loaded after an intentional walk. Donovan Solano then walked them off with a single down the line in left for a 6-5 win.
Donovan Solano is the hero in the @Padres #walkoff win! pic.twitter.com/I4HEUczMLZ
— MLB (@MLB) July 31, 2024
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| NL WEST | RECORD |
|---|---|
| Dodgers | 63-45 |
| Padres | 58-51 (5.5 GB) |
The series ends tomorrow at 2;40 PM HT/5:40 PM PT/8:40 PM ET with Clayton Kershaw making his second start of the year against the guy coming off a no-hitter in Dylan Cease.
