With an off-day behind them and a handful of new additions to the roster, including Yasiel Puig, the Los Angeles Dodgers opened a six-game homestand Friday night against the San Diego Padres.
Julio Urias was coming off his best start for the Dodgers but struggled early. He grazed Wil Myers with a pitch to put a runner on with one out. Myers stole second base and advanced to third on Yasmani Grandal’s throw that sailed into center field.
Alex Dicerkson on the hand with two outs, though not without the Padres challenging the initial call that Dickerson struck out on a foul tip.
Dickerson then stole second base without a throw to give the Padres a pair of runners in scoring position. Urias ended his long inning by retiring Alexei Ramirez.
Howie Kendrick led off the bottom of the first with a base hit but he was erased on a Corey Seager double play. After Justin Turner kept the inning alive with a single, Clayton Richard got Adrian Gonzalez to ground out.
Urias allowed a two-out single to Richard in the second and walked Travis Jankowski. The Padres then ran themselves out of the inning as Seager was unable to make a shoestring catch on a flare hit to back of second base, but Richard made too wide of a turn at third base and was caught in a rundown.
Puig’s first at-bat was brief as he flied to right on the first pitch he saw. Grandal singled, was replaced at first base by Kiké Hernandez on a force out, who was then stranded as Joc Pederson was called out on strikes.
The Dodgers loaded the bases in the bottom of the third behind a Kendrick single, Seager walk and Gonzalez infield single. The script was written for Puig to deliver early, but he grounded out to end the inning.
Urias retired the Padres in order in the fourth, picking up back-to-back strikeouts in the process. Kiké Hernandez pulled a one-out double down the line in the bottom half of the inning and scored on Pederson’s rocket of a base hit to right.
The Dodgers appeared to catch a break on the play as Ramirez’s throw to home plate was inexplicably cut off. Kendrick improved to 3-for-3 on the night with his third single, though nothing came of it.
Urias tossed a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, giving him nine consecutive batters retired to that point. Puig was stranded in the bottom half of the inning after hitting a two-out single.
Yangervis Solarte hit a broken-bat single with one out in the sixth to end Urias’ string of consecutive batters retired at 10. Urias’ next pitch hit Dickerson to put two on, and his pitch after that, 90th of the game, was a ball.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts came with the hook mid at-bat, replacing Urias with Jesse Chavez. The right-handed reliever gave up a two-run double to Derek Norris before getting out of the inning.
The Padres’ 2-1 lead didn’t hold up long as Pederson lined a game-tying solo home run to right field in the bottom half of the sixth. Pinch-hitter Josh Reddick beat the shift with a soft grounder to third base for an infield single.
Kendrick singled to right, and it marked the end of Brandon Morrow’s quick relief appearance. For Kendrick, the four-hit game was his fifth of the season. Brad Hand took over for the Padres and struck out Seager and induced Turner into a groundout.
Grant Dayton came on in the seventh and bookended a scoreless inning of work with strikeouts. Puig reached on an infield single with one out in the bottom of the seventh, and advanced to second base on Luis Sardinas’ throw that sailed into the Padres’ dugout.
Hand gave Grandal and Andrew Toles a steady dose of breaking balls, striking out each. While Los Angeles had 13 hits through seven innings, they were 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
The 2-2 tie was broke a mere three pitches into the eighth inning when Adam Liberatore gave up a solo home run to Solarte. Louis Coleman retired one of two batters faced, then handed the ball off to J.P. Howell.
Pinch-hitter Brett Wallace hit a broken-bat RBI single into left field, extending the Padres’ lead to 4-2. The Dodgers failed to score over the final two innings, even with the heart of their order batting in the ninth.
