Padres 8, Dodgers 3: Pen absolutely implodes in potential playoff preview

Chad Moriyama 08/05/2023 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

The Dodgers pen imploding late in San Diego and failing to protect a lead? Hey, I’ve seen that movie before!

In almost the opposite of yesterday’s game, the Dodgers outplayed the Padres for seven innings, but then the Padres humiliated the Dodgers pen in the 8th and took an easy 8-3 victory.

That ends the four-game winning streak and could very well serve as a preview of what Dodger fans have to look forward to in October even if not against these Padres.

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Dave Roberts tempted fate tonight by not starting Blake Snell‘s father at catcher, but the Dodgers still did well against him anyway, at least for their standards.

After Snell got the first two outs of the 1st, Will Smith took him eight pitches deep before smashing his 14th dinger of the year for a 1-0 lead.

After a long ball, the Dodgers manufactured a run in the 2nd. Chris Taylor led the inning off with a walk, stole second, and then also stole third with one out. That was eventually cashed in by Enrique Hernandez on a deep fly ball to make it 2-0.

As Snell was running up his pitch count, Michael Grove was being used as an opener and was absolutely carving the Padres lineup. He started by striking out the side on 13 pitches in the 1st, including domination of Fernando Tatis Jr.

He then got another strikeout to start the 2nd to make it four in a row, before allowing a single and seeing his night end as a run of lefties was coming up. Impressive outing and hopefully what he’ll look like out of the pen.

That meant Ryan Yarbrough made his Dodgers debut as the game’s bulk boi, and he started things off by striking out the first two batters he faced to close the 2nd and close the book on Grove.

While he generally pitched well, and gave up just a single in the 3rd, he did give up this mammoth homer from Manny Machado in the 4th that made it 2-1.

As mentioned, Snell continued to work deep counts, but the Dodgers stranded a two-out walk and steal by Will in the 3rd, and then a two-out walk from James Outman and balk by Snell in the 4th.

In the 5th they broke through, thanks a bit to the Padres defense, as Mookie Betts doubled down the line in left with one out, and Juan Soto had a disaster in left to let him reach third. Freddie Freeman singled the other way soon after to push the lead to 3-1, and then he stole second to boot.

Things looked like they’d get worse for the Padres soon after as Smith hit a ball into the gap, but Trent Grisham robbed him of a double. After a walk to put another on, Snell managed to get out of the inning with only three runs given up, but he made 108 pitches and was fortunate to keep the Padres in the game.

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Meanwhile, for the most part, Yarbrough frustrated the Padres. He got a clean 5th and then got two outs before giving up a single in the 6th that knocked him out of the game.

Honestly a great debut that seems to set the stage for how he could be used going forward: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 63 Pitches.

The reason he was removed despite his performance was because Manny was up next. Thus, Dave turned to Brusdar Graterol, who got ahead in the count 1-2, and then after Machado called time, Graterol went as quickly as legally possible and caught him for the strikeout.

Graterol then continued on in the 7th, giving up a one-out single but then erasing that with a double play.

Next up to protect the two-run lead was Yency Almonte in a big test for a reliever who has struggled this year. Well, he gave up a single to start, got a strikeout, and then issued back-to-back walks to the top of the Padres order to load the bases.

That earned him a hook as Caleb Ferguson entered for Soto, who hit a dribbler to Enrique at second. He promptly threw it into the dugout instead of eating it, allowing an infield single to score two and tie the game at 3-3. Machado quickly followed and singled to left, scoring another two runs to make it 5-3.

With two outs, Machado got picked off first trying to get a jump, but Ferguson then threw it over first to allow him to get to third.

Jake Cronenworth then took advantage by singling to left for a 6-3 lead, and a single and walk loaded the bases again. Grisham this time singled to drive in two more and make it 8-3 before Caleb was removed.

Alex Vesia then closed out the seven-run 8th frame with a flyout.

Yay.

Anyway, the Dodgers didn’t help much on offense, as they didn’t do anything in the 6th and 8th against the Padres pen, then wasted a walk and a single to start the 7th.

The 9th was basically a formality.

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This was funny at least.

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NL WESTRECORD
Dodgers63-46
Giants61-50 (3 GB)
Diamondbacks57-55 (7.5 GB)

*Either still playing or will play later.

The two teams are on Sunday Night Baseball for ESPN tomorrow at 1:00 PM HT/4:00 PM PT/7:00 PM ET. It’ll be Lance Lynn (6.32 ERA/4.81 xERA/4.51 DRA) looking to continue to get his Dodgers career off to a great start against new Padres member and old friend Rich Hill (4.76/5.59/6.10).

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