What many thought would be a pitching duel between Clayton Kershaw and Yu Darvish turned out to be a slogfest with the Padres evening the series 1-1, finally pulling out a postseason win against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Clayton Kershaw was not very sharp through the first two innings. He allowed a home run to Manny Machado in the top of the first. In the second, he allowed two hits but dug deep to strike out the final two batters of the inning to escape unscathed.
Kershaw allowed a walk and hit in the top of third, and Machado tied the game with a double. After a nine pitch at bat, Jake Cronenworth grounded into a fielders choice plating another run.
After that, Kershaw set down the next nine batters he faced, needing only 22 pitches to retire the last eight batters he faced.
Kershaw ended the night going five innings, allowing three runs on 80 pitches, six hits and striking out six.
The Dodgers managed to answer each of the first three innings, with solo homers by Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, and Trea Turner respectively.
Dodgers did get two on bottom of the fourth, but failed to score.
Brusdar Graterol relieved Kershaw, where broken bat single, Trea Turner error and seeing-eye single put the Padres back in front. The Padres attempted safety squeeze, but Graterol fielded the bunt perfectly to get the runner out at home. Cody Bellinger then followed with an incredible catch to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Will Smith and Muncy hit back to back singles, chasing Darvish from the game. Darvish’s final line was 99 pitches, allowing three earned runs with two walks and seven strikeouts. It was his first time in 25 starts where he did not complete the sixth inning.
Robert Suârez entered the game, striking out Justin Turner and getting Gavin Lux to hit into a double play to end the inning.
Yency Almonte stuck out top of order
Dodgers loaded bases but again failed to plate any runners
Blake Treinen, added to the postseason roster even though he hadn’t pitched any meaningful innings because of injury throughout the season, came in to pitch the top of the eighth. He allowed a lead-padding home run to Cronenworth. While the defense made some questionable plays behind him, he managed to escape the inning allowing just the one run.
Again, the Dodgers get runners on in the bottom of the eighth, but again, fail to score.
After Tommy Kahnle struck out the top of the Padres lineup in the top of the ninth, the Dodgers tried to mount a rally against Josh Hader. Other than a two out Freeman double, however, they fell short losing the game, 5-3.
The Dodgers will need to work on their inability to get runners home that are in scoring position, much like other postseasons.
The series now shifts to San Diego for two games. Tony Gonsolin will start for the Dodgers, and the Padres will send Blake Snell to the mound on Friday.
They hit plenty of hard hit fly balls just not when there was a runner on third and less than two outs. Even Lux DP grounder actually was hit too hard. If it had been a tad softer, no way is he out at first and a run scores.
So another question no lingers? Should Treinen (since he has hardly pitched all year) be on the roster? Rather than Ferguson or even Kimbrel?
We need to get to Snell early, on Friday.
That game sucked on several levels. Poor defense, lack of timely hitting (0 for 8 WRISP), Kershaw with a 5.4 ERA, and Treinen did not look ready. Muncy not running out a drive to the wall? Inexcusable. Barnes instead of CT3? If Taylor isn’t ready to hit, why is he on the roster?
Gonsolin? Really? Is he any more ready than Treinen? I’d rather see TA.
The Dodgers just gave away home field. I hope they get it together by this weekend.
My prediction of a Padres series win was based on Kershaw not having a history of dominance in the playoffs. Snell when he is on can dominate and I have predicted the Dodgers will not win another WS with Roberts as their manager. Playing teams at parity in a short series Robert’s decisions give the Dodgers a minus 1/2 to 1. He is a poor strategist. Barnes with the game on the line Really?? If Taylor is not able to hit then why is he on the roster? I hope I am wrong and want the Dodgers to win. But….
Gonsolin really? Why start a 2 inning guy and then Heaney. This is a recepe for disaster in a rather crucial game. Anderson has been very consistent all year and can go mire than 5 innings. We need a win to ensure a game 5 back in la. Ah Roberts. A vaseball genius.
We need a win to ensure coming back to LA for a Game 5, but what’s the difference if that win is Game 3 or Game 4.
I have no idea what the Dodger braintrust’s logic is in starting Gonsolin in Game 3 and holding T.A. for Game 4 but I’d like to hear it before accusing them of stupidity. And by the way, I’m sure Doc didn’t reach this decision without some heavy input from AF and friends.
Simple, Gonsolin is 2-0 with a 0.71 ERA against SD this year.
Difference is momentum Jeff. And loser of game 3 has their backs against the wall. You want to be in a position where you need to win one of two not 2 of 2. Lose game 3, you might never get home. And we’ve been there before.
I probably worded my comment poorly. What I meant to say is that if we win one of the two games, what does it matter which one it is?
Actually, if we knew going in that we would win one of the two, it would be better to win Game 4 because then momentum would be with us.
Sometimes we play better with our backs against the wall, but I’m not going to overthink this thing. We either win the series (and I’ll be happy) or we don’t (and I’ll be upset).
We won 15 of the first 20 we played against SD this year. We all know that we aren’t 3 times as good as they are. Reversion to the mean can be nasty.
Well bear he’s still a 2/3 inning guy. And you are going to burn out your bullpen.
When the offense sputters they lose. To reliant on the homer last night. 0-8 with RISP. You lose. Mookie needs to get untracked.
I agree about Mookie, but his one out double did set the table for Trea and Freddie. Then Trea grounds to Machado and Freeman is walked internationally. Smith hits it on the nose but right at Soto. TT needed to hit at least a fly ball. That was pretty much the theme for everyone who came up with RISP. Couldn’t get it done.
Setting the table that late in the game is one thing, but he failed in some clutch situations early in the game to make a difference. He also did squat in game one. He has been passive and has not protected the plate with 2 strikes,
And truth be told that ball should have been caught.
Hopefully Gonsolin can keep his pitch count down while getting outs. Having 20-25 pitch innings won’t allow him to go many innings.
It will be interesting to see who they team up with Catman. Heaney? May? Both? Neither?
However much any Dodger fan hates the Padres, they are proving a worthy opponent and will be even more so at Petco. And they’re doing it without Tatis Jr.
The best team in baseball, and the best team in the history of the LA Dodgers, just showed what we all knew – any team can be vulnerable in a short series. They had opportunities to put the inferior Padres to sleep and they didn’t do it. And now we’re going with a recovering pitcher that hasn’t thrown more than two innings since August 23rd.
Notta to worry. The 111 win Dodgers will show up and do what they do to the Padres. Right?
Right!
Or maybe not.
We’ll know by Sunday night. Or maybe Saturday.
A duo in a critical game 3 and Anderson for 4 tells u they will, hopefully, use Urias if necessary in game 5. A very politically smart face saving way to not use Kershaw for game 5!
Like Andy really like the Guardians. Picking the Padres in this series I was guessing Kershaw would have issues per his playoff history and thought Snell having a bad outing against the Mets would rebound. And our hitters r not having good at bats. Hopefully the Dodgers pull it out.