Coming off a 15-0 win against the San Diego Padres that set a Major League Baseball record for largest margin of victory in a shutout on Opening Day, law of averages suggested runs would be hard to come by for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their follow-up act on Tuesday.
That partially held true, as Padres right-hander James Shields allowed only two baserunners — a Corey Seager base hit in the first and Yasiel Puig walk in the second — through his first three innings of work.
Scott Kazmir matched Shields — and technically best his counterpart — by holding the Padres to only an infield single through three innings. Shields ran into some trouble in the fourth as Seager led off the inning with a single to center.
Matt Kemp robbed Justin Turner of an extra-base hit and likely RBI by making a diving catch in right-center field despite taking a poor route. Jon Jay wasn’t as fortunate as he misjudged a ball hit to center, coming up empty on a last-ditch effort at a diving catch.
The play resulted in a double for Adrian Gonzalez, and left runners on second and third with one out. Shields got ahead in the count against Yasiel Puig by busting him with pitches on the inside corner.
However, the fifth pitch of the bat leaked out over the plate, and Puig drove a two-run triple over Jay’s head:
The triple was Puig’s second in as many games. He scored on his first triple of the season as the ball got away from third baseman Yangervis Solarte. On Tuesday, Puig came around to score two pitches later as Carl Crawford slapped an RBI single by a drawn-in Padres infield.
The Dodgers’ three runs scored in the fourth were enough for a win as Kazmir, Pedro Baez, Chris Hatcher and Kenley Jansen held San Diego to only two hits over nine scoreless innings.
