San Diego baseball fans have got to be sick and tired of seeing former Friars fry their old team.
Yasmani Grandal, part of the package the Padres sent to Los Angeles for the since-departed Matt Kemp, hit a home run for the second straight game against the Pads to help the Dodgers to a 7-4 win on Sunday at Chavez Ravine.
Grandal has hit 23 home runs this year and six of them have come against the Padres, far and away the most against any other opponent. Grandal has done almost as much damage to the Friars as Jedd Gyorko (seven games, six home runs) did with the Cardinals.
What makes it hurt a little more is Grandal wasn’t even scheduled to play on Sunday. He started on the bench, taking a day off, but entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the 5th inning. He immediately singled home Yasiel Puig to snap a 4-4 tie and put the Dodgers on top.
Two innings later he hit a 2-run home run to provide a little more breathing room. Grandal’s shot came off Padres lefty Ryan Buchter and was almost a long out. Alex Dickerson tracked the drive to the left field wall and nearly pulled it back in the yard but couldn’t hang on to the ball.
Grandal’s offense gave Dodgers youngster Jose De Leon a win in his MLB debut. The #2 prospect in L.A.’s system gave up four runs on six hits in 6.0 innings. He struck out nine Padres hitters but could not decipher Yangervis Solarte.
The Padres 3rd baseman had three hits, including his 15th home run of the year, and drove in three runs but the rest of the lineup could only manage five singles.
Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, who returned to the big leagues on Friday after being demoted to Triple-A for the month of August, hit a 3-run home run off Padres starter Christian Friedrich in the 3rd inning. Friedrich allowed four runs on six hits in 4.1 innings and did not factor in the decision.
The Padres finished their 9-game road trip with a 3-6 record that includes a sweep at the hands of the Braves, the team with the worst record in Major League Baseball. They open a 3-game series back home against the Red Sox with a Labor Day afternoon matchup. Edwin Jackson takes the mound at 1:40 against former Padre Drew Pomeranz, who returns to Petco Park for the first time since throwing a scoreless inning in the All-Star Game as a member of the Padres.
