The Los Angeles Dodgers have been able to lean on sound defense as their lineup goes through dry spells, but that changed in a second consecutive loss to the San Diego Padres. Manny Machado provided the big blast with a grand slam leading the Padres to a 6-2 win over his former team.
Ross Stripling didn’t do himself any favors as he compounded Jake Cronenworth’s leadoff double in the second inning by throwing the ball away on Austin Hedges’ sacrifice bunt attempt. It allowed Cronenworth to come around to score, tying the game.
Justin Turner then fielded Jurickson Profar’s sac bunt but his throw pulled Cody Bellinger off the bag, leaving two on with nobody out. After a single and force out at home plate, Machado cleared the bases by depositing a hanging breaking ball into the center-field pavilion.
Stripling later allowed a solo home run to Profar and failed to make it out of the fifth inning in his second consecutive start against the Padres. The bullpen again answered the bell as they backed Stripling with scoreless work, but the deficit proved too much to overcome.
Just like in the series opener, the Dodgers were first to score, only to struggle from there. On Wednesday night, it was Chris Taylor’s RBI single in the second inning giving them an early lead.
Garrett Richards twice got Cody Bellinger to ground into an inning-ending double play — in the first and third. He also worked out of trouble in the fifth after Austin Barnes doubled and Joc Pederson walked with two outs.
Richards got through six innings of work with just the one run allowed on six hits. L.A. nearly pushed across another run but Taylor was thrown out on his attempt to score from first base on Kiké Hernandez’s double to left-center field in the second inning.
Taylor appeared to make an attempt to collide with Hedges, which led to the Padres backstop exchanging words with Barnes.
Justin Turner is 1,000
Last week against the Padres, Justin Turner reached a milestone when he became the Dodgers all-time hit by pitch leader. Turner achieved another feat against the Padres, with a leadoff double in the second inning the 1,000th hit of his career. Of those, 781 came with the Dodgers.
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