Kenta Maeda had a rough go of it, particularly early, and didn’t receive run support as the Los Angeles Dodgers dropped the series finale to the San Diego Padres, 5-3. Maeda largely looked nothing of the pitcher who threw seven shutout innings in a previous start.
Manuel Margot drove a mistake pitch left over the heart of the plate to center field for a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. The Padres loaded the bases with nobody out in the second inning on a hit by pitch, single and walk.
Maeda nearly managed to limit the damage as he induced a double play, but back-to-back RBI doubles followed. Jose Pirela’s run-scoring single in the fourth extended the Padres’ lead to 5-0 and knocked Maeda out of the game.
He went 3.2 innings and allowed the five runs on eight hits; three of which went for extra bases. The outing snapped a stretch of 10 games (eight starts) where Maeda allowed three earned runs or fewer.
He’s been the starter in each of the Dodgers’ two losses against the Padres in nine games this season. It snapped a seven-game winning streak for Los Angeles in head-to-head meetings.
The Dodgers had their share of opportunities against Jhoulys Chacin, who entered 4-2 with a 1.83 ERA in eight starts at Petco Park this season. He navigated traffic in the second, third and fifth innings, when the Dodgers put at least two runners on in each frame.
A Corey Seager double and walks by Justin Turner and Joc Pederson loaded the bases in the third, only for Yasmani Grandal to ground out weakly to third base. Grandal also grounded out in the fifth to strand a pair of runners.
The Dodgers to that point were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and had left nine men on base overall. Seager’s two-out, two-run double off left-handed reliever Ryan Buchter in the sixth snapped the drought. The hit was Seager’s third of the game, which led the Dodgers.
Grandal clubbed a solo home run in the seventh to further cut into the Padres’ lead, but there wouldn’t be a comeback as the Dodgers were forced to settle for a series win.
The Dodgers went 16-4 over their stretch of 20 games in 20 days, which concluded Sunday.
