Following an off day on Thursday, the Los Angeles Dodgers returned to the field with a fresh slate and promptly took out their recent frustrations on the San Diego Padres in the first of a three-game set at Dodger Stadium.
The club snapped a three-game losing streak with an 11-1 victory, propelled by a trio of home runs from the likes of Max Muncy, Chris Taylor and Justin Turner.
On the pitching side, Rich Hill was excellent in tossing six shutout innings with eight strikeouts against one walk on 90 pitches. He even contributed with his bat, going 1-for-3 with an RBI single in the sixth inning, which increased Los Angeles’ lead to nine at the time.
Hill was pleased with the Dodgers’ overall performance on both sides of the ball and explained that the club will approach the remainder of their schedule one game at a time, via Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
“Everything needs to be tightened up as we move toward September,” Hill said. “As we know, things get amplified. And you want to be able to be as close to perfection as we can. Here, we were fortunate to have a great game tonight, and we’ll continue playing like there’s no tomorrow.”
The Dodgers’ blowout win over the Padres not only served as a confidence booster, but it allowed them to gain a full game on both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies in the same day for the first time since Aug. 7.
Echoing Hill’s sentiments, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts reiterated that he wants the club to focus on their current opponent rather than look ahead to future series against the Diamondbacks and Rockies.
