Bullpen blows game, as Dodgers beat Padres 5-2 to take series
Credit: USA Today Sports
The San Diego Padres played the last game of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers this Sunday, May 7.
Heading into the ninth inning, the Padres had a slim 2-1 lead against the southern California rivals, but a solo home run by Mookie Betts off of Josh Hader tied the game and forced extra innings after the Friars were ineffective against Caleb Ferguson in the bottom of the ninth.
The solo-shot ruined a great pitching display by San Diego led by Joe Musgrove, who tossed five innings, where he only allowed one unearned run and had five strikeouts. The Padres’ bullpen up until Hader was great as Tim Hill, Steven Wilson, and Nick Martinez pitched three scoreless innings, striking out four Dodgers batters. Julio Urias tossed five and two-thirds innings, allowing both of the Padres’ runs, while Los Angeles’ bullpen pitched four and third scoreless frames.
Brent Honeywell came in to pitch in the 10th inning and had a very uninspiring outing, allowing three runs to score. First rookie Michael Busch singled to left field, and the ghost runner Freddie Freeman came in to score on the play. Then another rookie punished Honeywell in the form of James Outman, who continued his impressive season with a two-run home run to make it a 5-2 game.
Prior to the homer, Honeywell balked, as he was clearly rattled throughout his outing against Los Angeles. That home run by Outman was the finishing blow in a game where the Padres had done almost enough to take the win.
Evan Phillips came in the bottom of the 10th inning and retired Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, and Juan Soto in order. Machado and Xander Bogaerts were responsible for the only two runs in the game for the Friars, opening the game in the first inning with a pair of doubles.
While the Padres started the game hot, the offense could not get anything going after that, accumulating nine hits but leaving 17 runners on base. Manny Machado had the best day at the plate for any San Diego batters, going 3-for-5 with that RBI double. Nelson Cruz, Austin Nola, Brett Sullivan, Adam Engel, and Trent Grisham all went hitless in the game, while Juan Soto went 1-for-4 and left four runners on base, which was the highest tally for the team on the day.
Bob Melvin shares his thoughts following the game 2 tonight against the Dodgers?@Padres | #PadresLive pic.twitter.com/SBb0Sodf7t
— Bally Sports San Diego (@BallySportsSD) May 7, 2023
The showing on the a day was very similar to the series against the Dodgers, as the Padres started out great with a 5-2 win against Clayton Kershaw and company on Friday night but then went on to lose the next two games. The Friars will now travel to Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Twins for a three-game series starting on Tuesday, May 9. San Diego will then play a weekend series against the Dodgers on the road, starting on Friday, May 12, before coming back home to face the Kansas City Royals on Monday, May 15.
The Padres are now 18-17 on the season, third place in the NL West, now three games back of the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.
Francisco, 26, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego Loyal, San Diego Wave.
What won’t get talked about, and this is why this Padres team will certainly not win, is that two of their starts (Machado and Bogaerts) completely loafed in the first inning. While Machado ending up scoring, Bogaerts did not. He hit a high fly ball that the RF dropped. A hustling player would have easily ended up at 3rd (standing up, at a minimum), but he barely made it to second. Had he hustled (or gave a nominal effort) he would have then scored later in the inning, putting them up by three runs, and they would have won 3 – 2. Perhaps the worst part of this is no one will experience any consequences, because … this is San Diego. As a result, this team will continue to underachieve.