The Los Angeles Dodgers began their first series of the season against the up-and-coming San Diego Padres on Friday night, and despite falling behind early, battled back to earn a 4-3 victory at Petco Park.
San Diego scored three runs in the first three innings off Clayton Kershaw, with two of them coming on a home run by Manny Machado in his first game against his former team.
Couple that with four no-hit innings from Padres starter Eric Lauer to begin the game, and it’s safe to say things weren’t going well for the Dodgers.
Chris Taylor changed that to begin the fifth inning when he launched a solo shot off Lauer, his second of the season, to break up the no-hitter. After Corey Seager hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, Austin Barnes stepped to the plate in the seventh with the Dodgers still trailing.
He proceeded to launch a solo home run off Padres relief pitcher Trey Wingenter, his fourth of the season to tie the game. The homer was Barnes’ fourth this season, which matched his output from all of 2018.
Barnes wasn’t done there, though. He led off the ninth inning with a double into the gap, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position.
That set the stage for the biggest hit of the night, a single by Max Muncy that went off Eric Hosmer’s glove and allowed Barnes to come all the way around from second base to score the winning run.
After Kershaw gave up the three runs, he settled in nicely to get through six innings and turn in his fourth straight quality start to begin the season.
The Dodgers bullpen was then flawless in relief of him as Dylan Floro, Scott Alexander and Kenley Jansen combined to toss three scoreless innings to close out the victory.
