The Padres have not fared well against the Dodgers of late. San Diego entered their weekend series up north losers of 14 of their last 16 games against Los Angeles. However, their revamped offense gave them hope a day is dawning.
Maybe it will happen on Saturday.
Sean Manaea got hit hard, allowing eight runs in 4.0 innings (although not all of them were his fault) in an 8-1 Padres loss to the Dodgers on Friday night at Chavez Ravine and it was bad right from the get-go.
Mookie Betts lined the first pitch Manaea threw to left field for a leadoff double. Trea Turner followed with a single and Manaea hit Freddie Freeman with a pitch to load the bases. Will Smith hit a dribbler towards 3rd base where newly-acquired Brandon Drury, playing the field to give Manny Machado a chance to DH, bare-handed it and threw wide to 1st base and let in two runs.
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Hanser Alberto hit a hard ground ball right at Drury, who tried to backhand it ... and just flat-out missed it. The ball went right under his glove and for some inexplicable reason Alberto was given a 2-run double, so it was 4-0 after one inning.
In the 3rd the Dodgers doubled their lead with 2-run doubles by Chris Taylor and Cody Bellinger to make it 8-0 and even San Diego's new firepower couldn't close that gap. The Padres got two hits in the first inning against Tony Gonsolin, then had two more the rest of the game and never really threatened to get on the board.
We were treated to a bit of comic relief in the 8th inning. Infielder Matt Batten came on to pitch. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sent in pitcher Tyler Anderson to pinch-hit for All-Star 1st baseman Freddie Freeman. Batten and his wicked 58-MPH heat struck out Anderson to finish a scoreless inning. The Padres avoided a shutout when Drury's sacrifice fly scored Josh Bell in the 9th inning.
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While the final score was not ideal the day was not a complete loss. The Padres did get some good news before the game in the form of Fernando Tatis Jr., who took another round of live batting practice at Dodger Stadium. The team, the doctors, and the player are encouraged enough with the progress on his surgically-repaired left wrist that he's heading out to San Antonio for a rehab assignment. That means the Padres could have Tatis, Soto, and Manny Machado together for the first time in a couple of weeks.
The Friars try to even the series on Saturday night with Mike Clevinger on the mound against Andrew Heaney.
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