Freddie Freeman downplayed the Los Angeles Dodgers’ struggles against left-handed pitching this season and backed up his sentiment by providing a game-high three RBI in their 4-2 win over the San Diego Padres.
Friday’s matchup was the fourth between the Dodgers and Padres since last Friday, and L.A. has won three of those meetings. The Dodgers went 14-5 against the Padres during the regular season, but of course the tables were turned on them in the National League Division Series.
Blake Snell stranded a one-out walk in the first inning but faced trouble in the second when Chris Taylor added to his hot stretch with a leadoff double. Max Muncy’s groundout advanced Taylor to third base, where he was stranded by Miguel Vargas and Miguel Rojas.
Snell pitched himself into more traffic in the third inning by walking Trayce Thompson and Mookie Betts. Freeman followed that with a two-run double to the right-center field gap that gave the Dodgers a lead.
With that being the only runs the Dodgers scored off Snell, it kept pressure on Dustin May in his second consecutive start against a Padres lineup not meeting expectations but with plenty of potential.
May didn’t allow a baserunner until Jake Cronenworth’s one-out single in the fourth inning. That was followed by inducing a double play off the bat of Manny Machado, who was relentlessly booed throughout the night.
Arguably May’s finest moment came in the fifth inning when he stranded a Juan Soto leadoff double to keep the Dodgers’ 2-0 lead intact. He looked to do the same after Xander Bogaerts doubled with two outs in the seventh inning but couldn’t keep the Padres at bay.
Matt Carpenter’s walk kept the inning alive and Ha-Seong Kim’s two-run double tied the game. It also knocked May out at 6.2 innings, leaving him one out shy of tying a career high that was set in his first start of the season.
Dodgers pick up May
With Trayce Thompson leading off the bottom of the seventh, the Padres elected to call on Tim Hill as their first reliever to to appear in the game. It immediately paid off as Thompson’s struggles against left-handers continued.
However, the decision then backfired as Mookie Betts and Freeman connected on back-to-back home runs that proved to be the difference for the Dodgers. It represented the third time this season the Dodgers have hit back-to-back homers.
Evan Phillips was called on to face Machado with one out in the eighth inning and the tying runs on base, and he needed just three pitches to induce a double play. Phillips then remained in the game to complete a five-out save.
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