Grand(al) Slam! Former Padres Duo Leads Dodgers to Victory

The Los Angeles Dodgers (5-9) took on a familiar foe in the form of the San Diego Padres (7-10) tonight at Petco Park looking to continue their momentum following yesterday’s win.  Hoping to repeat his solid previous outing, Hyun-Jin Ryu took the mound against Padres’ pitcher, Robbie Erlin, who was starting in the place of suspended Luis Perdomo.  Perdomo, who is serving a five-game suspension, was ejected from last Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies after throwing a pitch behind Rockies’ All-Star, Nolan Arenado, that would cause a benches clearing brawl; therefore, Erlin would get the call who has yet to win a game so far this season.

2nd Inning

The Dodgers would strike first with a lead-off walk by Cody Bellinger followed by a single by former Padre Matt Kemp that would advance Bellinger to third base; however, Kemp would attempt to turn the hit into a double and would be thrown out at second.  Next up was Yasmani Grandal, also a former Padre, who hit a double off the wall to score Bellinger and put the Dodgers ahead 1-0.

The Padres would immediately answer in the bottom of the 2nd with a lead-off double by right-fielder Hunter Renfroe followed by a two-run homer by Christian Villanueva to give the Padres a 2-1 lead.  Ryu would settle in after the home run, however, and retire the next three batters.

3rd Inning

Chris Taylor would lead off the third inning with a ground ball to third base that took a big hop and bounced right past Villanueva resulting in an error that allowed Taylor to reach second base.  Corey Seager would come to the dish next and rope a line drive to right field that was misjudged by Renfroe who took a few steps forward but immediately back-peddled as the ball hit off the top of his glove and rolled to the wall.  The second consecutive Padres’ error would allow Taylor to tie the game and put Seager on third base.

Kiké Hernández would bat next and line a base hit into center field to score Seager and put the Dodgers back on top 3-2.

Bellinger would keep the rally alive with a ground ball single past the shift that would advance Kiké to third.  That would bring Kemp to the plate who absolutely crushed a first-pitch fastball for a three-run home run to give the Dodgers a 6-2 lead.

Kemp’s homer would top off a season high five-run inning for the Dodgers.  Unfortunately, he would be removed from the game in the 5th inning in place of Joc Pederson, likely because Erlin was pulled after three innings for right-handed, side-arm pitcher Adam Cimber.  Ryu would finish the game without allowing any more runs, tossing 6.0 innings of 2-run, 3-hit ball while walking none and striking out a season high 9-batters.

9th Inning

With one-out in the top of the 9th, Seager would begin yet another rally with a double to right field.  Two batters later, Bellinger would draw a walk followed by another walk to Pederson to load the bases.  That would bring Grandal to the plate who would crush an 0-2 pitch for the Dodgers’ first Grand Slam of the year to take a commanding 10-2 lead.  He would finish the night 2-4 with a walk, a run scored and 5 RBI’s.

The Padres would salvage an additional run in the bottom of the 9th that began with a one-out double by Renfroe off of Scott Alexander followed by consecutive singles to Villanueva and Franchy Cordero to make it 10-3; however, that score would stand with a game-ending double play.

The Dodgers (6-9) put up a season high 10 runs in tonight’s victory and look like they are finally starting to settle in at the plate.  They will look for their third consecutive win and first series win behind Alex Wood tomorrow night at 7:10pm PST.

BakoBoyInBlue