San Diego dominated Los Angeles in Game 2 of the series as the Padres score 11 runs.

The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers met for Game 2 of the first series of the season between these two NL West ball clubs.

The Dodgers won Game 1 by the score of 8-7 after a crazy contest that ended in LA’s favor. The game went back and forth early on with a lot of runs scored. Once the game went to extra innings, the Dodgers scored two runs in the 10th, which was enough to take the opener.

The Friars aimed to win even the series with Dylan Cease on the mound. Lou Trivino started for the Dodgers as the opener. LA is dealing with a plethora of pitching injuries to both the rotation and bullpen. As a result, infielder Kike Hernandez made an appearance on the mound as the Padres dominated this ball game.

“It’s always gratifying to get a win like that,” Jackson Merrill said on the postgame show. “Last night was such a good game that I don’t think anyone was upset about losing last night. That is what we play for. We play to have fun. We flushed it and came back today ready to play ball. Same thing tomorrow.”

The top of the first inning of Tuesday’s game went as smoothly as you could ask for as a starting pitcher. Cease struck out Shohei Ohtani to begin, followed by back-to-back flyouts from Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Merrill showcased his elite defensive skillset early on with a leaping grab in deep left-center field. Cease threw just 10 pitches.

Matt Sauer replaced Trivino for the bottom of the second inning. The expectation was that Sauer would pitch a bulk of the innings after being called up from the minor leagues on Tuesday. He did just that and ended up throwing 111 pitches in 4.2 innings.

The first runs of the contest came in the bottom of the third inning. The Padres lead the league in 2-out hitting and proved it yet again. After Fernando Tatis Jr. walked with two outs, Luis Arraez hit an RBI double down the right field line to score Tatis. Sauer wanted no part of Tatis during the at-bat, and it really hurt him. Manny Machado followed with a bloop single to score Arraez, and then Merrill hit an RBI triple to score Machado. The Padres needed to get out to an early lead to have a chance to even the series, and they did just that. San Diego led 3-0 after three.

The Friars scored a few more runs after earning lots of base runners. Stunningly, Martin Maldonado smashed a solo home run off of Sauer to extend the lead to 6-0. LA kept Sauer in the game for as long as they could.

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SD added five more runs thanks to hits and RBIs from Machado and Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts had a three-hit game. The contest was decided in the 6th inning.

Cease pitched very well in this contest. His fastball was brilliant, and it helped set up his nasty slider. For the first time facing the Dodgers since the last postseason, the right-hander utilized a different game plan. Walks have hurt him this season, but he used that to his advantage in this one. In the third inning with Ohtani on first base, Cease walked Betts and Freeman to load the bases. He threw just one strike during those two at-bats. That set up Teoscar Hernandez with a party on the bases. Cease struck him out on four pitches. The right-hander did not want the Dodgers’ top three hitters to beat him.

Cease ended the sixth inning with his ninth strikeout of the night. In the seventh inning, he ended his outing with two more K’s to give him 11 for the night. When the Padres needed him the most, he pitched his best outing of the season. Cease gave SD seven elite innings, allowing just three hits. He did walk five.

Cease talked to Don and Mud after his outing.

“I was just being aggressive and attacking,” Cease responded about his elite outing. “I’ve been training to use my legs a little bit better and be powerful. I kinda got through a stretch where I was too mechanical, and I wasn’t really powering the ball, and obviously wasn’t getting results. So I went back to being aggressive, and I feel like every start I am calibrating a little more, and thankfully, this was a good one.”

The rubber match will take place in an afternoon contest at 1:10 PM. Randy Vasquez is on the mound for the Friars up against Justin Wrobleski for LA. If the Padres win, they will be tied with the Dodgers. In fact, if the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies and the LA Dodgers lose, the Giants will be winning the division by 0.5 games.

Chris Spiering

Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and now covers San Diego State Men’s Basketball. He also contributes regularly about the Padres. Chris is an athlete and is a huge fan of San Diego sports.