Padres 6, Dodgers 5 – 2024 NLDS Game 3: Early defensive meltdown costs Dodgers pivotal game

Chad Moriyama 10/08/2024 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

Game 3 at least meant the focus could return to baseball, though the Dodgers didn’t seem to be locked in when defensive miscues sparked a six-run 2nd inning for the Padres. To their credit they fought back immediately with a grand slam, but the Padres shut the Dodgers out for the next six innings to take a 6-5 win and a 2-1 series lead.

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Padres starter Michael King began well by striking out Shohei Ohtani and then getting ahead of Mookie Betts with an 0-2 count. However, Mookie fought back to a 3-2 count, at which point he unloaded an identical flyball to left as last game. Thankfully, this time it went off Jurickson Profar‘s glove for a solo homer to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the 1st.

On the mound for the Dodgers was their big-game guy in Walker Buehler, though he obviously hasn’t been the same since coming back from injury. Regardless, he started well, as despite getting behind twice in 3-1 count, he cruised through an uneventful 12-pitch inning in the 1st.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers just completely melted down behind him in the 2nd. A Manny Machado single was followed by a grounder to Freddie Freeman by Jackson Merrill. Freddie fielded it on his knees and tried to get the lead runner but hit Machado instead for an error, resulting in cornered runners. Xander Bogaerts followed by grounding to Miguel Rojas, who tried to turn the double play himself instead of flipping it to Gavin Lux, but Merrill beat him to second and Bogaerts outran his throw to first and everybody was safe yet again while Machado scored. On replay, it sure looked like it would’ve been a double play had he just fed Lux the ball like normal.

David Peralta followed with a double down the line past Freeman to score both Merrill and Bogaerts and make it 3-1.

In order to drive me more insane, Jake Cronenworth hit an infield single to corner the runners, after which a Kyle Higashioka sac fly pushed the lead to 4-1. After a pop-out, Buehler looked on the verge of ending the misery, but Fernando Tatis Jr. absolutely murdered an 0-2 cookie fastball to make it 6-1.

Yeah.

Needless to say, things looked bleak, and King bounced back with a seven-pitch 2nd frame. However, he got into trouble in a hurry in the 3rd. Three singles in a row from Rojas, Ohtani, and Betts loaded the bases (and led to Rojas exit with his groin injury).

After Freddie lined out to left (.530 xBA), Teoscar Hernandez got down 0-2 in the count, but battled for a bit and then got a hanging slider that he banged over the wall in center for a dramatic grand slam to get the Dodgers right back in it at a 6-5 deficit.

Unfortunately, King got right back to it with a seven-pitch inning in the 4th, and while the Dodgers hit the ball hard three times in the 5th, the result was still three outs. That was almost surprisingly the end of his night.

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On the other side, Buehler did seem to settle in for a a bit, getting a 10-pitch 3rd and then seeing a single erased by a double play in a 10-pitch 4th (that resulted in Freddie’s ankle being … tested).

Buehler continued to roll at the start of the 5th with a pair of outs, but Machado singled, prompting a visit from Dave Roberts. He opted to leave him in the game to face Merrill, but after a wild pitch, an intentional walk was issued, and he got Bogaerts to groundout to end things for him.

Probably one of the most misleading lines you’ll ever see for Buehler today. As he could’ve been out of the six-run inning within three or four batters: 5 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 77 Pitches.

So, the rest of the way, it was a battle of the pens.

The Dodgers did their job, with Anthony Banda getting four outs, Daniel Hudson getting two outs, and Michael Kopech finishing with three outs to give the offense a chance at least.

For the Padres, Jeremiah Estrada and Jason Adam got clean 6th and 7th frames, respectively, while Tanner Scott got two outs in the 8th before giving up a single to Freddie that was the first Dodger baserunner since Teoscar’s grand slam. Yikes.

Robert Suarez then entered to face that same man, and got him to pop-up to end that inning. He then obviously continued in the 9th, where he got a 1-2-3 frame without any trouble.

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2-1 down.

What we know about tomorrow’s game is that it’ll be between the same two teams, at the same place, and at the same time of 3:08 PM HT/6:08 PM ET/9:08 PM ET on FS1. Aside from that, though? Not a lot. Landon Knack and Martin Perez have been the assumed starters, but both managers have said before the situation will be fluid, so we’ll see.

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