For each the Dodgers and San Diego Padres, the project over the subsequent few weeks figured to be easy:
Maintain enterprise and beat the groups you’re alleged to.
In any case, the Dodgers are starting a stretch of 15 straight video games towards golf equipment under .500. The Padres, in the meantime, will play 13 of their subsequent 16 video games towards opponents with dropping data, the lone exception being the 68-67 Cincinnati Reds.
It gave the impression to be a possibility for every contender to stack up wins, construct late-season momentum and attempt to wrest away management of a division race that the Dodgers at the moment lead by two video games.
The one drawback: They each flunked their first take a look at on Friday.
Beating the dangerous groups, it seems, isn’t at all times as simple because it appears.
In Los Angeles, the Dodgers suffered a lackluster 3-0 loss to the underperforming Arizona Diamondbacks, managing simply three hits and getting just one runner in scoring place en path to struggling their seventh shutout this season. The Padres, in the meantime, have been knocked round by the tanking Minnesota Twins in a 7-4 defeat earlier within the night.
It meant, for one night time, the standings remained static.
As an alternative of catapulting themselves into exceedingly gentle parts of their schedules, each groups stumbled to equally disappointing outcomes.
At Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers’ loss snapped their four-game successful streak — halting their latest upswing each on the mound and on the plate.
Beginning pitcher Blake Snell gave up three runs in 5⅓ innings and battled by way of a stark drop in fastball velocity. After getting into the night time averaging 95.4 mph together with his heater, Snell was caught nearer to 93 mph in his first begin because the beginning of his second youngster final weekend.
“I had a busy week, man. A lot going on,” Snell stated of his velocity drop. “I’m not worried about [it]. I know what’s going on. So it’ll come back. I’m zero worried about it. I mean, I was aware of it. But I’m not gonna push it. It is what it is. It’s what I had today. Just gotta be better.”
Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers within the first inning Friday towards the Diamondbacks.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Instances)
Although he struck out eight batters and allowed solely 4 hits, considered one of them was expensive: a two-run residence run by Blaze Alexander within the fourth, on a fastball over the plate that clocked in at solely 93.4 mph. Snell’s night time ended after two extra knocks introduced in a 3rd run within the sixth, with Corbin Carroll hitting a leadoff double and scoring on Gabriel Moreno’s RBI single.
The larger drawback for the Dodgers (77-58), nonetheless, was their offense.
Arizona starter Zac Gallen entered the night time within the midst of a dismal contract season, starting play with a 5.13 earned-run common regardless of improved type in August. In opposition to the Dodgers, although, he was lights out, yielding solely two hits in six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and three walks.
“We just obviously couldn’t figure anything out,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “We just really couldn’t put anything together all night long.”
Certainly, much more troublesome was the Dodgers’ incapacity to generate a lot towards the Diamondbacks’ bullpen — a woebegone unit that has spoiled Arizona’s playoff aspirations by rating twenty sixth within the majors with a 4.73 ERA.
Andy Pages managed a two-out single within the seventh however was left stranded. After that, the Dodgers’ solely different baserunner got here on a stroll from Teoscar Hernández within the sport’s penultimate at-bat.
“This was the first one in a while … that we’ve seen sort of a lackluster performance,” Roberts stated, his membership unable to increase its momentum after a sweep of the Reds. “Obviously you’ve got to give credit to Gallen, too. But it was one of those nights that I just didn’t see the at-bats that we’ve been seeing the last week.”
After all, issues didn’t go a lot better for the Padres (75-60) on Friday, both.
Earlier than their sport in Minnesota, the group introduced that shortstop Xander Bogaerts was happening the injured checklist with a foot fracture, which may preserve him out for the remainder of the common season. Then, Nestor Cortes adopted up his six shutout innings towards the Dodgers final week with a three-inning, three-run clunker that was punctuated with an ejection.
The night time served as a missed alternative for each NL West pace-setters; the Padres squandering an opportunity to chop the Dodgers’ two-game lead in half, just for the Dodgers to whiff on a gap to develop their lead on the high of the standings.
And within the coming days and weeks, each golf equipment should attempt to care for enterprise higher. As a result of with no head-to-head matchups left between the Dodgers and Padres within the common season, beating dangerous groups — and avoiding ugly losses like Friday’s — may dictate who finally wins the division.
“We’ve got to play well,” Roberts stated. “Whether it’s the schedule or a tougher opponent, I don’t really think it matters. We got to go out and play good baseball and take good at-bats and just stack wins.”
Freeman, Name again in motion
Freeman had been battling a neck stinger, however returned to the beginning lineup and drew a stroll in an in any other case 0-for-3 efficiency. Name prevented an IL stint after having a flare-up in his again on Tuesday, and got here off the bench as a pinch-hitter for a groundout within the seventh.
