After having their five-game winning streak snapped, the Los Angeles Dodgers looked to rebound against the San Diego Padres in the second of their three-game series. Jose De Leon’s start on Wednesday was considered an audition of sorts for the postseason.
Continuing with his recent success on the road, Chase Utley hit a leadoff home run in the first inning. Luis Perdomo then gave up a solo homer to Adrian Gonzalez before managing to get out of the inning.
Corey Seager’s throwing error that allowed Manuel Margot to reach with nobody out in the bottom of the first led to a big inning for the Padres. Yangervis Solarte singled with one out and Alex Dickerson walked to load the bases.
Hunter Renfroe, who hit a grand slam Tuesday night and was responsible for all seven of the Padres’ runs, tied the game with a two-run single. Ryan Schimpf’s RBI double gave San Diego a 3-2 lead.
Josh Reddick led off the second inning with a base hit but was erased on a force out. Perdomo then retired Andrew Toles, Joc Pederson and De Leon to end the inning. De Leon hit Perdomo with a pitch in the second but managed to throw another scoreless frame.
Seager’s two-out infield single in the third sparked a small rally as Gonzalez followed with a game-tying RBI double. Renfroe struck again in the bottom half of the inning with a towering two-run homer that reached the top of the Western Metal Supply Co. building in left field.
The Padres announced Renfroe’s home run was the first to land on the roof in Petco Park’s 13-year history. De Leon walked Schmipf, and it marked the end of his night after just 2.1 innings pitched. Josh Ravin retired the two batters faced to end the third.
The back-and-forth scoring carried into the fourth inning, as Joc Pederson’s two-run home run pulled the Dodgers even with the Padres. Ross Stripling was unable to keep the game tied in the bottom of the fourth.
Margot doubled with one out and stole third base, but only because of a poor tag attempt. Wil Myers’ RBI groundout gave the Padres a 6-5 lead. Stripling faired much better in the bottom of the fifth, striking the side, including Renfroe.
Perdomo was removed from the game after walking Yasmani Grandal to start the sixth. Buddy Baumann quickly got two outs on a strike ’em out, throw ’em out, and ended the inning by inducing Toles into a fly out.
Stripling got a line-drive double play after Alexi Amarista singled with one out in the bottom of the sixth. That gave Stripling 100 innings pitched for the Dodgers this season, good for sixth on the team.
Keith Hessler worked around Yasiel Puig’s one-out, pinch-hit single in the seventh to keep the Padres’ 6-5 lead intact. Jesse Chavez allowed a leadoff single in the bottom half of the inning but induced a double play two batters later.
Luis Avilan allowed a leadoff single to Dickerson in the eighth, then picked off pinch-runner Travis Jankowski. Renfroe struck out swinging and Schmipf grounded out. The scoreless appearance was Avilan’s 10th straight.
Reddick beat the shift with a bunt single to lead off the ninth, and tagged on Toles’ fly ball to deep center field. In what may be a concern moving forward for the Dodgers, Toles grabbed at his left hamstring area immediately after making contact.
Brandon Maurer struck out Pederson and pinch-hitter Andre Ethier after Reddick stole third base to earn a save in the Padres’ 6-5 victory. Los Angeles again dropped to two games back of the Washington Nationals, who also lost Wednesday in a rain-shortened game.
