Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Hey, you know things are going great when this sums up the game.
The Dodgers were horrible yet again in any key plate appearance and the Padres did enough to get the lead in handing the Dodgers a 2-1 loss to put them down 2-1 in the series.
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The Dodgers made the cute decision to start Tony Gonsolin in a pivotal Game 3 and he labored through 42 pitches while getting just four outs.
The Padres got on the board against him in the 1st after a Juan Soto double, a Manny Machado walk, and a two-out single by Jake Cronenworth for a 1-0 lead. After getting an out in the 2nd, he allowed back-to-back singles to corner the runners and that was the end of his night.
Andrew Heaney then entered and got a bunt out that might have been a safety squeeze attempt from Jurickson Profar, then managed to escape the trouble in the 2nd. He actually found trouble again in the 3rd thanks to a walk and a weird Trea Turner error where he went all the way out into left calling for a fly ball and dropped it. However, back-to-back strikeouts got him out of that jam.
Unfortunately, the Padres didn’t need a threat in the 4th, Trent Grisham just ambushed Heaney and homered for a 2-0 game. Later, Heaney surrendered a single and a walk but didn’t give up further damage. After starting the 5th with a strikeout, Heaney gave way to the pen.
Dave Roberts went with Yency Almonte, who struck out both of the hitters he faced to close the 5th. Alex Vesia was next, and while he got a pair of outs, he also walked a pair. Thankfully, Evan Phillips bailed him out in the 6th and then got a scoreless 7th for a four-out appearance. Tommy Kahnle closed the book on the Padres in the 8th with a scoreless frame of his own.
All in all, the Dodgers pen did well behind Gonsolin.
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Unfortunately, none of that mattered because the Dodgers offense continued to struggle. Against Blake Snell they wasted chances early on a single and a wild pitch in the 1st and a walk, single, and another walk in the 3rd.
In the 5th they got a golden chance with a Trayce Thompson single and an Austin Barnes double to lead the inning off. However, they only got a Mookie Betts sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 2-1, as Trea Turner fouled out and Freddie Freeman grounded out.
Snell finally got knocked out in the 6th after a one-out double from Max Muncy. However, Nick Martinez relieved him and guess what? The Dodgers stranded him at second as well.
Luis Garcia followed in the 7th with a 1-2-3 frame that shouldn’t have been as he got a strikeout of Gavin Lux on a ball out of the zone on 3-2. Regardless, Robert Suarez got the 8th and Trea Turner started with an infield single, but he didn’t move and seemed to injure his hand when he almost got picked off to boot.
The 9th of course belonged to Josh Hader, who got a harmless foul pop, and a pair of strikeouts to end it. What a pathetic showing.
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) October 15, 2022
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Still think they overthought this.
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The Dodgers are now on the verge of elimination, down 2-1 in the NLDS to the Padres.
The now turn to Tyler Anderson tomorrow at 3:37 PM HT/6:37 PM PT/9:37 PM ET, and he’ll face Joe Musgrove.
