Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Well, I guess this is what I get for getting so many Clayton Kershaw recaps. Roberto Hernandez did his best Fausto Carmona impression at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night, as the Padres took down the Dodgers 6-3.
Carmona Hernandez didn’t get any help from his defense. After allowing two runners to reach with two outs in the second inning, Andrew Cashner (the pitcher) hit a line-drive double to left-center field on a hanging slider. He ended up at third base because of a throw from Yasiel Puig that no one decided to catch.
In the third inning, Hernandez walked future Dodger Yasmani Grandal before allowing a 2-run home run to Jedd Gyorko, who was hitting .199 at the time. If that seems somewhat familiar (probably just to me), it’s because not only was his last home run against the Dodgers, it was a similar scenario.
“Kevin Correia served up a 3-run home run to Jedd Gyorko (hitting .199 at the time) to give San Diego an early 3-0 lead.”
So, that’s Gyorko’s thing, apparently.
Adrian Gonzalez‘s thing is hitting home runs, as he launched a 2-run homer off Cashner in the sixth inning. It was a 96 MPH fastball on which Gonzalez put a beautiful swing. It was vintage Adrian, that’s for sure. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be enough for the Dodgers.
Joc Pederson came up with two runners on and no outs. He worked the count to 3-1 and got a fastball away. His swing was just a little late, as he fouled out deep down the left field line. He’s 2-for-15 with seven strikeouts in his debut. He’s putting good swings on the ball, when he actually swings. He’ll get the hang of it.
Hernandez was decidedly awful, but the bullpen was really good — until the eighth inning. Once again, the duo of Grandal and Gyorko (the next law firm of Ellis & Ellis?) caused trouble. Grandal doubled, Gyorko singled and if-not-Grandal-then-future-Dodger-Rene Rivera hit a sac fly to cap the Padres’ offensive output on the evening. All that came off Jamey Wright.
Before Wright, Yimi Garcia and Correia (!) combined for four scoreless innings and no base runners to keep the Dodgers in the game. Hell, even Chris Perez got in the game and pitched decently (by his standards).
And before someone brings it up, Mike is gonna write something about Hanley Ramirez‘s defense tomorrow (most likely).
With the Giants’ incredibly easy 5-1 win against the Diamondbacks, they move back to within 2.5 games of the NL West lead. The Dodgers (82-63) send Dan Haren (12-10, 4.17 ERA) up against Ian Kennedy (10-12, 3.75). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Pacific. It’s the last time these teams will meet until opening day 2015 at Dodger Stadium.
