The San Diego Padres’ efficiency on Saturday might most likely be put in a tutorial video.
Recommended title: How NOT to play a baseball recreation.
On an evening the surging Padres have been attempting to bounce again from the Dodgers’ opening win on this weekend’s pivotal three-game sequence, one which tied the 2 Southern California rivals atop the Nationwide League West standings, the membership as an alternative placed on an exhibition of poor, sloppy and outright comical execution.
Whereas the once-slumping Dodgers have raised their degree of play the final two nights, the Padres have made errors even Little League coaches can be reprimanding.
Besides of their case, even the teaching seemed to be a part of the issue.
Within the Dodgers’ 6-0 win — a victory that restored their solo lead within the division, and clinched their head-to-head sequence in opposition to the Padres this season — San Diego did all it might to provide the sport away from the beginning.
Within the prime of the primary, three of the Padres’ first 4 batters recorded a success in opposition to Blake Snell, the ex-Padre left-hander making his first begin in opposition to the group since leaving in free company on the finish of 2023. However twice, Dodgers catcher Will Smith caught a runner attempting to steal second, gunning down Fernando Tatis Jr. after his leadoff single earlier than getting Manny Machado on the again finish of an tried double-steal to retire the facet.
Dangerous baserunning wasted one other Padres’ probability within the second, with Smith throwing out one more runner, Xander Bogaerts, at second. It was the Dodgers’ first recreation with three caught stealings since 2021, and solely their second since 2011.
In the meantime, the Padres’ pitching and protection one way or the other discovered a technique to be worse.
Beginning pitcher Dylan Stop started his outing with three-straight walks within the backside of the primary. After a one-out sacrifice fly from Teoscar Hernández, Stop then reloaded the bases with one other free go to Andy Pages, and adopted that with a dangling full-count curveball to Michael Conforto, who ripped a two-run single into proper to provide the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani scores on a sacrifice fly within the first inning Saturday in opposition to the Padres.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances)
Walks continued to abound within the second, with Stop placing Shohei Ohtani and Smith aboard. This time, he had appeared to work his means out of it, after Freddie Freeman hit a deep fly ball that died on the warning observe in right-center. However on this night time, even routine outs have been no certain factor.
Sensing Tatis converging from proper area, heart fielder Jackson Merrill briefly hesitated whereas pursuing the drive, earlier than awkwardly reaching for it with an underhanded try. Predictably, he couldn’t maintain on, the ball hitting the heel of his mitt earlier than falling to the bottom.
The error scored two runs.
The Dodgers (70-53), who went on to get six shutout innings from Snell and a second dwelling run in as many nights from Hernández, would by no means be threatened once more.
To recap the primary two innings another time:
The Dodgers had only one hit, and noticed their beginning pitcher retire solely one of many first 5 batters he confronted — however drew six walks, have been gifted a dropped ball and one way or the other led 5-0.
The Padres (69-54) had 4 hits — however apparently forgot methods to throw up a cease signal, dedicated the most costly of conceivable errors defensively, and watched their beginning pitcher throw 31 balls to solely 27 strikes.
That, children, is decidedly not the way it’s carried out.
Not that the Dodgers appeared all an excessive amount of to thoughts.
During the last couple months, in spite of everything, that they had been the group on the improper finish of sloppy fundamentals. What was as soon as a nine-game division lead evaporated within the house of six weeks, due to unclutch offense, unreliable reduction pitching and one maddening shut loss after one other.
However in Friday’s sequence opener, that they had lastly performed clear baseball, and much more importantly, grinded out a one-run win.
“If you win the close games, that’s how you build,” Freeman theorized final week. “Then you’ll score nine, 10 runs. Then you’ll start putting some things together. But just need to find a way to win those close ones.”
Up to now on this sequence, that prediction has come true.
Not that Freeman, or anybody else with the Dodgers, might have anticipated the Padres to supply a lot self-destructive assist.
