The Los Angeles Dodgers had a chance to clinch the National League West division title, and they took advantage of the opportunity, by rallying for a 7-2 comeback win against the San Diego Padres in the rubber match of their series.
The game turned out to be a true pitchers’ duel between Walker Buehler and Joe Musgrove for the most part, which was perhaps the most encouraging part for the Dodgers as they expect to count on the right-hander to fill a key spot in their postseason rotation.
Buehler went five innings, giving up just one run on five hits with one walk and one strikeout. The lack of swing-and-miss is somewhat of a concern, but Buehler was efficient and limited both runs and walks, which is all the Dodgers can ask for at this point.
The Padres did their damage in the fifth inning after Buehler worked four scoreless to open the game. David Peralta walked, Kyle Higashioka hit a ground-rule double, and the run scored on a ground out by Luis Arraez.
With two on and just one out in the inning, it could have been far worse for Buehler, and during the early parts of his season, it probably would have been. But he has continued to take positive steps in each recent outing, providing the Dodgers with real hope for him moving forward.
The Padres scored another run against Evan Phillips to make it a 2-0 lead after reaching on two straight singles. Anthony Banda helped him get out of the inning.
As for Musgrove, he worked six scoreless innings before the Dodgers finally got to him in the seventh inning, which turned out to be a big one. It started with a walk to Max Muncy and then Will Smith blasted a game-tying home run.
From there, the Padres went to the bullpen, bringing in Tanner Scott. It didn’t stop the Dodgers’ momentum.
Kiké Hernández singled, Andy Pages reached on catcher’s interference, and the go-ahead run was driven in by who else but Shohei Ohtani? The future 2024 NL MVP singled home the run to keep the rally going and passing the torch to Mookie Betts.
Although the series has not been kind to Betts, he cleared the bases with a single to right field that allowed both runs to score, giving the Dodgers a 5-2 lead.
After the five-run seventh, Blake Treinen pitched the eighth without allowing a run while facing the heart of the Padres lineup for the second straight day.
In the bottom of the eighth, Andy Pages blasted a two-run homer for the dagger. Ohtani also doubled, giving him 400 total bases this season, the first player to do that since 2001.
Michael Kopech shut the door in the ninth, putting the Dodgers back on top in the West.
The Dodgers will spend the night celebrating before heading to Colorado for their final series of the season.
Freddie Freeman suffers injury in Dodgers clincher
Unfortunately for the Dodgers, that seventh inning wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Freddie Freeman grounded out in the inning and after trying to avoid a tag at first base, he rolled his right ankle and went down in pain.
He was able to walk off the field under his own power, but he was replaced in the game by Chris Taylor, who went in to second base while Kiké Hernández moved to first.
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