LOS ANGELES — Nope, they don’t like each other.
That much was fairly evident even before the ninth inning of Thursday night’s 5-3 victory for the San Diego Padres over the Dodgers.
But it took all the way to the final inning of their 10-game stretch against NL West rivals for emotions that had bubbled just below the surface during the seven meetings between the Dodgers and Padres to finally boil over.
The Dodgers had all but ceded a 5-0 loss to the San Diego Padres on Thursday night. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pinch-hit for Mookie Betts, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman in the bottom of the eighth inning, essentially raising the white flag.
In the top of the ninth, though, rookie right-hander Jack Little (pitching a second inning in his major-league debut) hit Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. with a pitch. It was the third time Tatis was hit in the seven games between the Dodgers and Padres over this 10-game stretch and Padres manager Mike Shildt came charging out of the dugout, gesturing toward the Dodgers’ dugout.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts responded in kind, meeting Shildt at home plate as both dugouts emptied. Both managers were ejected, Roberts for the second time in this four-game series.
The Dodgers avoided being shut out with three runs in the bottom of the ninth – but Shohei Ohtani couldn’t avoid getting hit by a pitch from Padres closer Robert Suarez. It was the second time in this series that Ohtani and Tatis were each hit by pitches in the same inning. Both Suarez and Padres bench coach Brian Esposito (who took over for Shildt) were ejected.
And with that, the Dodgers reached the end of a 10-game gauntlet against their closest pursuers in the National League West, the Padres and San Francisco Giants.
The Dodgers had gone more than 60 games into the season without playing either team and led the Padres and Giants each by a game when they entered this stretch. Despite Thursday’s loss, the Dodgers won seven of the 10 games and emerged with a 3½-game lead over the second-place Giants, five games over the Padres.
The didn’t dominate their opponents during the 10 games, outscoring the Padres and Giants just 52-51 while batting a modest.250 as a team.
But they were clutch. Three of the seven wins were one-run decisions and they hit .304 (24 for 79) with runners in scoring position.
The offense never got going Thursday night. Rookie right-hander Ryan Bergert (making just his fourth major-league start) retired 14 of the first 16 Dodgers batters, allowing a pair of singles in the third inning then a walk and a single in the fifth.
Mookie Betts grounded out with runners at the corners in the third. Ohtani hit a dribbler back to reliever Adrian Morejon, who took over for Bergert with the same in the fifth.
An unproductive offense has been the biggest drag on the Padres’ attempts to challenge the Dodgers in the division over the past month. But they landed enough blows against Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Thursday.
The first six Padres hitters hit fly balls, twice sending Dodgers outfielders back to the wall before Xander Bogaerts finally cleared one with a solo home run in the second inning.
Yamamoto struck out the side in the third inning and would have had an ‘immaculate inning’ (three consecutive strikeouts on nine total pitches) but home plate umpire Marvin Hudson missed the call on the ninth pitch.
Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth led off the fifth inning with singles and Bogaerts scored on a sacrifice fly by Jose Iglesias.
And Bogaerts was a thorn in Yamamoto’s side again in the seventh inning, leading off with a double. Cronenworth drove him in with a ground-rule double.
Little entered in the eighth inning and gave up two runs on four hits, including Bogaerts’ fourth of the night.
Padres reliever Sean Reynolds walked the first two batters in the ninth, sparking a Dodgers rally that died after Ohtani was hit – and Betts, Smith and Freeman were no longer in the lineup.
More to come on this story.
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