Recap: Dodgers Rout San Diego, Maintain NL West Lead

Saturday evening’s matchup between the first-place Dodgers and last-place Padres, played out exactly as we expected.  The Dodgers’ offense got ahead early, taking advantage of the Padres lackluster starting pitching, and Rich Hill kept the Padres off the scoreboard, outside of a mistake in the 6th.

The Dodgers’ bats were loud from the beginning.  On just the second pitch of the game, Joc Pederson launched a fastball from Jacob Nix into the right-field bleachers for his 24th home run of the season.

The 3rd inning saw ten Dodgers’ hitters come to the plate, with Justin Turner and Manny Machado doing the heavy lifting.  After getting behind 0-2, Turner rolled a grounder just inside of the foul line to score a hustling Pederson and Chris Taylor.  He was quickly followed up by some bobblehead-night magic.  Machado blasted a fastball from Nix into the right-center field bleachers to cap off the scoring in the 3rd and put the Dodgers ahead 6-0.  It was Machado’s 12th home run, and first bobblehead, as a Dodger.

So Manny reasons to homer but going yard on your bobblehead night seems like a good one. pic.twitter.com/pS3MBJp8r9

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 23, 2018

In the bottom of the 6th, Yasmani Grandal launched the most-notable long ball of the season.  It was just his third home run batting from the right side, but also the Dodgers 222nd home run this season – a new franchise record.

That bat drop. ? pic.twitter.com/sRNbS19Y9y

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 23, 2018

Rich Hill was superb in this one, tossing 7 innings while collecting 7 strikeouts and allowing just 4 hits.  The one mistake of the night was an elevated fastball, which Hunter Renfroe launched over the centerfield wall.  Hill managed to lower his ERA to 3.87 on the season and became the first Dodger pitcher to collect 10 wins this season.

Alex Wood was the first pitcher called out of the ‘pen tonight.  His brief appearance culminated in a single to the only batter he faced.  Fields handled the rest of the 8th and looked dominant doing so – striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced.

The drama came late in this one, largely a result of the ineffectiveness of Yimi Garcia and Tony Cingrani.  In the 9th, the Padres collected 1 run on 3 hits (including a double from Austin Hedges) and a HBP before Roberts called on Kenley Jensen to kill the rally.  Kenley did exactly that.  Jansen struck out the next two Padres to close out the Los Angeles’ 86th win of the season by a final score of 7 – 2 and maintain the 1.5 game lead in the division on Colorado.

Tomorrow the Dodgers will look to wrap up their third straight series victory and build some momentum heading into a key series against the Diamondbacks.  Ryu, who’s been spectacular this season, will lead the charge against fellow southpaw Joey Lucchesi (3.74 ERA).