On Friday night the Dodgers scored five times in the 8th inning thanks to a terrible night from the Padres bullpen to win the series opener at Petco Park. The strategy seemed sound so on Saturday night the Padres did the exact same thing to the Dodgers.
San Diego scored seven times in the 8th, turning a 3-1 deficit into an 8-3 win to even their 4-game set and, more importantly, pull within 3.0 games of the last National League Wild Card spot.
Blake Snell started and was not great. In the 1st inning he gave up a solo home run to Will Smith, the first dinger he's allowed since June 11. Snell allowed three runs in 5.0 innings and needed 108 pitches to get those 15 outs. It was looking like he'd take the loss because the Friars were having all kinds of trouble squaring up a slew of Dodgers pitchers on what amounted to a bullpen day.
Manny Machado ripped a home run into the upper deck off Ryan Yarbrough to get the Padres on the board in the 4th inning. It was San Diego's only run until the 8th inning. That's when Yency Almonte came on and did something similar to what Robert Suarez did the night prior: forget where the strike zone is located.
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Almonte allowed a hit and walked two, loading the bases with one out. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled him and brought in lefty Caleb Ferguson to face Juan Soto. The strategy looked like it worked. Until it didn't.
Soto hit a dribbler past Ferguson towards 2nd base. Kike Hernandez charged and probably didn't have a play. He tried to make one anyways and that was a massive error. He threw wide of 1st base, allowing two runs to score and tie it 3-3 and opening the proverbial floodgates.
Machado followed with a line drive single to left to score two more runs and make it 5-3. Ferguson picked Manny off 1st so Machado got into a rundown and stayed alive long enough for Ferguson to get the ball and make another throwing boo boo, chucking it down the 1st base line and allowing Manny to get to 3rd base. With the inning prolonged, the Padres took advantage.
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Jake Cronenworth singled to score Machado. Garrett Cooper singled to center for his first hit in a Padres uniform. Gary Sanchez walked to re-load the bases and Trent Grisham dropped a base hit into left field to plate two more and cap a 7-run rally, the first time the Friars have scored seven runs in an inning against the Dodgers since 2006 (interestingly, also the last time San Diego won the National League West).
On Sunday night Rich Hill makes his Padres debut against new Dodgers starter Lance Lynn in a 4:10pm, national TV game at Petco Park. A win would get the Friars back to .500 for the first time since May 11 when they were 19-19.
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