Playing without Corey Seager (left hamstring) and Justin Turner (back tightness), the Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t muster much offense but came away with a 1-0 win against the San Diego Padres in the final game at Petco Park this season.
Joey Lucchesi walked Kiké Hernandez and later committed a throwing error after fielding a Kristopher Negrón bunt, but held the Dodgers without a hit through four innings. Will Smith’s leadoff single in the fifth didn’t amount to anything.
That changed in the sixth inning when Chris Taylor worked a two-out walk; he’d struck out in each of his first two at-bats. Keeping the inning alive paid dividends as Max Muncy broke the scoreless tie with an RBI single into the left-center field gap.
Taylor may have been out at the plate had Austin Hedges managed to cleanly field the relay throw and apply a tag.
Instead it provided Clayton Kershaw with a decided lead. He avoided what’s become somewhat of a custom this season in the form of a first-inning home run, but did need to work out of trouble after allowing a double and issuing a two-out walk.
Kershaw settled in from there, retiring 13 in a row through five scoreless innings. He was at 75 pitches to that point but remained in the game despite prior indications pointing to Thursday being an abbreviated outing before a postseason start.
Luis Torrens led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to give the Padres their first baserunner since Hunter Renfroe’s walk with two outs in the first inning. Torrens moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, only to be stranded when Manny Machado struck out swinging.
Kershaw finished seven strikeouts, one walk and just the two hits allowed on 90 pitches over six scoreless innings.
Dustin May was again thrust into a high leverage situation, this time pitching on back-to-back days for the first time, yet still finding success by retiring the side in order. That figures to bode well for May’s chances of making the Dodgers’ postseason roster.
Pedro Baez worked around a leadoff walk in the eighth inning, and Adam Kolarek and Kenta Maeda combined to finish out the ninth.
