The Los Angeles Dodgers remained plagued by familiar offensive woes at Petco Park but managed to rally for a 5-2 win against the San Diego Padres in 10 innings. With that the Dodgers won a third consecutive series for the first time this season.
While the Dodgers went 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base, their defense also left plenty to be desired.
James Outman misread a fly ball to center field and couldn’t recover to make a diving catch, resulting in a leadoff double for Fernando Tatís Jr. in the bottom of the first inning. The fly ball had a .130 expected batting average, and was followed by Manny Machado driving an RBI double to the right-center field gap.
Later in the inning, Mookie Betts in explicably dropped a fly ball on the warning track, and Xander Bogaerts’ RBI double extended the Padres’ lead to 2-0. Betts was mic’d up for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball and told the broadcast he simply dropped the ball and sun was not a factor.
Those were the only two runs Urías allowed as he pitched into the sixth inning. Urías was removed after allowing a two-out single to Ha-Seong Kim, but Yency Almonte stranded both inherited runners. Almonte wound up completing 1.1 scoreless innings to keep the Dodgers in the game.
They were slow to get going as Joe Musgrove didn’t allow a hit until Chris Taylor’s two-out single in the fifth. He was stranded but the Dodgers wound up chasing Musgrove from the game before he could record an out in the sixth inning.
Freddie Freeman’s fly ball to left field was dropped by Juan Soto for a two-base error, and Will Smith immediately took advantage by delivering an RBI double that cut the Dodgers’ deficit in half and knocked Musgrove out of the game.
The Dodgers wound up leaving the bases loaded in the inning.
They had another golden opportunity when Smith doubled and Max Muncy walked to open the eighth. Smith finished with two of the Dodgers’ xx hits in the game.
Pinch-hitter Michael Busch, Outman and Miguel Vargas failed to take advantage of Smith and Muncy reaching. Vargas nearly delivered a potential game-tying hit but his line drive was caught by Bogaerts making a leaping play.
Betts wound up atoning for his misplay by tying the game on a two-out solo home run off Josh Hader in the ninth inning. That gave Betts a third game-tying homer in the ninth inning or later since the start of the 2020 season, which is tied with Ty France, Tatís and Rowdy Tellez for most in the Majors during that span.
After Caleb Ferguson got the Dodgers to their first extra-innings game of the season, Busch delivered a go-ahead RBI single with two outs. Outman then provided a cushion with a two-run homer.
Next for Dodgers
The Dodgers’ road trip continues Monday with the start of a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers are 1-6 since getting off to an 18-9 start and just snapped a six-game losing streak Sunday by salvaging their series against the San Francisco Giants.
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