The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres met Tuesday night in the second of their three-game Opening Series to the 2016 regular season. Los Angeles extended their winning streak against San Diego to seven games with Monday’s shutout victory.
Facing a Dodgers lineup that was hardly unchanged from Opening Day, James Shields struck out Chase Utley to start the game. Corey Seager dropped a base hit into left field, but the inning came to an end immediately after as Alexei Ramirez made a terrific stop to initiate a double play.
Cory Spangenberg reached in the bottom of the first on an infield single, but Scott Kazmir kept the Padres off the board by retiring the next two batters faced. Shields walked Yasiel Puig, who later advanced to second base with two outs in second inning on a wild pitch.
That’s as far as he reached, with Joc Pederson striking out to end the inning. Kazmir struck out Derek Norris in the bottom of the second for his first regular-season strikeout with the Dodgers. The southpaw then made quick work of Yangervis Solarte and Ramirez.
Both pitchers retired the respective sides in order in the third inning. Seager improved to 2-for-2 on the night by hitting a chopper up the middle that carried into center field for a leadoff single in the fourth.
Matt Kemp robbed Justin Turner of at least a double and a potential RBI by making a diving catch in right field despite running a less-than-optimal route. Padres outfielders continued to have trouble as Jay misread a ball of Adrian Gonzalez’s bat, resulting in a double for the Dodgers first baseman.
Puig then cleared the bases with a two-run triple that carried well over Jay’s head. The triple was Puig’s second in as many games.
CONTINUE READING: Scott Kazmir retires 17 consecutive batters; Pedro Baez, Chris Hatcher and Kenley Jansen shut the door
With the Padres infield playing on the grass, Crawford slapped an RBI single into left field, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 3-0 before Shields could get out of the inning. Meanwhile, Kazmir continued to sail, bookending the bottom of the fourth with strikeouts of Spangengerg and Wil Myers.
Kazmir to that point retired 11 consecutive batters. Seager continued with his hot start to the season by lining a two-out hustle double to right-center field int he fifth. The young shortstop improved to 3-for-3 on the night with the extra-base hit.
However, Seager was stranded as Turner flied to right for the third out. Kazmir mowed through he Padres in the bottom half of the fifth, setting Norris, Solarte and Ramirez down in order. The southpaw’s strong performance carried into the sixth as Kazmir bookended the inning with strikeouts.
Despite only being at 75 pitches, Kazmir was pinch-hit for by Kiké Hernandez in the seventh. Kazmir finished with five strikeouts and one hit allowed over six scoreless innings. Hernandez reached on a two-out throwing error, but was stranded as Utley lined out.
Pedro Baez struck out two of three batters in the seventh to keep the Padres off the bases. Chris Hatcher followed suit by also collecting a pair of strikeouts as he set the Padres down in order in the eighth.
Fernando Rodney walked Pederson, who then stole second base to move into scoring position with two outs in the ninth. Rodney prevented the Dodgers from pushing across an insurance run by striking out Austin Barnes.
Kenley Jansen gave up a two-out infield single in the bottom of the ninth before sealing the Dodgers’ 3-0 win to convert his first save opportunity of the season.