Blake Snell and Dylan Cease both had a peculiar start to the night, and it was the Los Angeles Dodgers who capitalized on that en route to a 6-0 win over the San Diego Padres.
Snell allowed three hits in the first inning but was aided by Will Smith twice throwing out a runner on stolen base attempts. That carried into the second inning when Xander Bogaerts was caught stealing after his leadoff single.
Meanwhile, Cease walked the first two batters faced, throwing eight of 10 pitches for ball. Cease then walked Will Smith to load the bases before recording an out.
Teoscar Hernández’s sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead, and Michael Conforto extended it with a two-run single. Cease walked four batters and threw 37 pitches in the first inning, with only 17 being strikes.
Cease’s lack of command lingered into the second inning as he issued two more walks, and both runners later scored when Jackson Merrill dropped a fly ball with two outs.
Cease pitched just 3.1 innings and allowed the five runs (three earned) while issuing a season-high six walks.
Snell wasn’t overly sharp as his night lacked swing and miss. He nonetheless managed to hold the Padres scoreless over six innings. The start was Snell’s first time facing the Padres since leaving the team as a free agent after the 2023 season.
The outing was also Snell’s longest of the season.
In more encouraging news for the Dodgers, Teoscar Hernández hit a solo home run for the second time in as many nights.
Edgardo Henriquez, Anthony Banda and Jack Dreyer combined for three innings out of the bullpen to complete the Dodgers’ shutout win.
Dodgers take over NL West
With their back-to-back wins against the Padres, the Dodgers are now one game ahead for first place in the National League West.
Also with their win Saturday night, the Dodgers improved to 7-2 against the Padres and have clinched the season series.
The Dodgers now have an opportunity to sweep the weekend series at Dodger Stadium before facing the Colorado Rockies ahead of another meeting with the Padres from Aug. 22-24.
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