Dodgers 4, Padres 3: Shohei Ohtani twice comes up with the big hit and the pen hangs on for the win

Chad Moriyama 09/25/2024 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

After yesterday’s unmitigated disaster of a game, the Dodgers and Padres looked like they might repeat the same formula tonight. However, the Dodgers just made slightly more plays and made slightly less mistakes than they did last night, and most importantly they got Shohei Ohtani to the plate with the opportunities to make a difference. He made those chances pay off, giving the Dodgers the lead twice, including for good, in a 4-3 victory over the Padres.

A huge win that gives them a chance to clinch the NL West tomorrow.

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Dylan Cease‘s night against the Dodgers started with a four-pitch walk to Ohtani, who later got to second with one-out during Freddie Freeman‘s at-bat on a wild pitch. After Freddie struck out to put Cease on the verge, Teoscar Hernandez came up with a two-strike single to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.

A walk to Max Muncy followed to put two on and give the Dodgers a RISP again, but Will Smith flew out to the warning track in right to end the inning.

In perhaps the most predictable outcome ever, that lead didn’t last long. After Jack Flaherty faced the minimum in the 1st thanks to a walk being erased by a double play, he issued another walk to start the 2nd. A double followed to put a pair in scoring position, then a single and a groundout plated them both to give the Padres a 2-1 lead.

Flaherty then did well to navigate around a double, walk, and steal to put a pair in scoring position with two out in the 3rd. And he followed that with a promisingly clean 4th that made it seem like he settled in.

On the other side, after Cease mostly cruised through the 2nd and 3rd, he also got the first two outs of the 4th. However, Tommy Edman started a rally with a double into the gap, and Gavin Lux then tied the game at 2-2 with a single.

After Miguel Rojas worked a walk, Ohtani finally got a shot in a big spot, and he came through with a double off the wall that barely missed being a homer for the 3-2 lead.

Unfortunately, that’s where the rally ended, as Mookie Betts fouled out to first on the first pitch to strand a pair. Cease continued in the 5th, getting a clean inning, and that’s where his night ended as he was already at 97 pitches.

Now given a lead, Flaherty continued to look good, getting a pair of groundouts to start the 5th. However, Fernando Tatis Jr. then unloaded on a ball to left, tying the game yet again, this time at 3-3.

A rather mediocre outing in the end, with some worrying sub-90 fastballs being thrown as well: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 100 Pitches.

That made it a battle of the pens heading into the 6th with the score even.

Starting things off was Alex Vesia, who faced the minimum in the 6th thanks to a two-out walk being cutdown by a Dills throw and great tag by Edman on a stolen base attempt.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers got a rally going in the 6th thanks to back-to-back walks to start, but Lux then struck out on three pitches and Andy Pages was robbed of a double by Jackson Merrill. Things looked bleak given how things usually go, but thankfully Ohtani was up next and he ripped a single up the middle to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.

The runners were cornered after that, and Ohtani then stole his 56th base of the season, but Mookie again popped up to strand two (he popped up four times this game).

Now with the lead again, Vesia was still in, and of course he started the 7th with a four-pitch walk. Why not? That was the end of the road for him, as Dave Roberts turned to Evan Phillips, who responded with a strikeout, groundout, and a pop out that meant the Dodgers remained in front.

The Dodgers looked to add on, starting their 7th with a Freeman double. But Teoscar was then robbed a bit on a ball hit up the middle, and after Muncy followed by drawing a walk, Smith grounded into a double play that killed that rally as well. Yeesh.

Fortunately, Blake Treinen took the ball for the pen in the 8th and absolutely carved the heart of the Padres order, getting a seven-pitch inning that included two three-pitch strikeouts.

After the Dodgers again failed to pad the lead in the 8th, again leaving Ohtani on deck by grounding into a double play after a single, it was Michael Kopech for the save in the 9th.

He started by beating the runner to the bag on a groundout, and then a routine groundout followed, but he then issued a walk and a pinch-runner stole second to add some drama. Fortunately, he then bared down the got a dominant strikeout to end things.

Huge.

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Unfortunately, they did get some bad news, as Rojas had to exit during the game due to a groin problem while running the bases.

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NL WESTRECORD
Dodgers94-64
Padres91-67 (3 GB)
Diamondbacks88-71 (6.5 GB)
NLRECORD
Dodgers94-64
Phillies94-65 (0.5 GB)
Brewers90-68 (4 GB)

*Still playing.

The series concludes tomorrow at the same time again of 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET. Walker Buehler takes the mound for the Dodgers looking to try and put it all together again versus a resurgent Joe Musgrove.

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