SAN DIEGO — On an evening when their probabilities to do viable harm have been few and much between, the Dodgers had a possibility they could not afford to waste within the prime of the eighth inning.
Laborious-throwing Padres righty Mason Miller was on the mound. The Dodgers have been down a run. That they had two speedy rookies, Alex Freeland and Justin Dean, on first and second with one out. Supervisor Dave Roberts lifted nine-hole hitter Buddy Kennedy in favor of Dalton Dashing, with Shohei Ohtani on deck.
On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Dashing tapped a grounder towards first baseman Luis Arraez, who threw to second for one out. From there, shortstop Xander Bogaerts tried to show two. The preliminary ruling on the sphere was that Dashing beat the throw to first, however it was overturned upon overview and the Dodgers’ rally was over simply as shortly because it had began.
As soon as that chance slipped away, the Dodgers got here up quick with one other scoring risk within the ninth earlier than falling, 2-1, to the Padres on Friday evening at Petco Park.
With the loss, Los Angeles and San Diego are tied atop the Nationwide League West — though L.A. successfully leads by a recreation as a result of it has clinched the head-to-head tiebreaker.
“I believe while you’re in it, you do not actually have the time to consider disappointment and what might’ve been,” Roberts stated. “You have to simply go on the market and take care of what is going on on proper now. We’re tied within the standings, and we have to win a recreation tomorrow. There’s simply no different approach to have a look at it.”
Blake Snell turned in one other sturdy efficiency, with seven innings of two-run ball, however his staff wasn’t in a position to again him whereas going through a gauntlet of San Diego arms. Reverse Snell, Yu Darvish allowed three complete baserunners and held the Dodgers to at least one hit throughout six innings.
Darvish retired the primary seven Dodgers he confronted earlier than surrendering a no-doubt solo dwelling run to Freeland — the primary of his Main League profession — and hitting Kennedy within the third inning. Darvish then retired 10 of his final 11, with Ohtani drawing a stroll within the sixth earlier than being erased when Mookie Betts grounded right into a double play.
“It is bittersweet,” Freeland stated. “I imply, yeah, it is cool that I hit my first profession dwelling run, however the one factor I actually care about is successful the sport.”
Whereas the Dodgers lived and died by the lengthy ball, the one runs Snell gave up have been the product of some Padres small ball within the fourth inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. drew a leadoff stroll, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Manny Machado’s RBI single. Two batters later, Machado got here round to attain what can be the game-winning run on Xander Bogaerts’ sacrifice fly.
Snell in any other case held the Padres off the board in his sixth and longest begin of the season, hanging out 5 and dealing round six hits and two walks.
“Actually good lineup and he actually navigated it. Acquired via seven innings. Only a actually stellar efficiency,” Roberts stated of Snell, who left after the sport to be along with his spouse, who’s anticipating the couple’s second little one. “Sadly, we could not work out Darvish. They went to the ’pen, and [we] actually threatened a pair instances late however simply could not get that huge hit.”
The Dodgers have been inside hanging distance, however it wasn’t till the eighth inning that they bought their first good likelihood to construct an inning. It ended with Ohtani within the on-deck circle, however that meant he was due as much as open the ninth in opposition to Padres nearer Robert Suárez.
Similar to the inning prior, there was some life. Ohtani simply missed a game-tying homer, flying out to the warning monitor in heart. Betts and Freddie Freeman notched a pair of hits to bookend a Will Smith strikeout. That put runners on the corners for Teoscar Hernández, who struck out swinging to finish it.
Throughout this stretch during which the Dodgers have gotten inconsistent manufacturing from their lineup, they have been inspired by their potential to create alternatives.
However alternatives do not win video games, nor do they win divisions. For the Dodgers to be alone atop the NL West as soon as extra, they’re going to must money in on as many probabilities as they will.
“Clearly, we’re preventing for the division. However this one is prior to now,” Hernández stated. “We’re going to proceed to work arduous, come right here tomorrow and attempt to win.”
