There is very little separating the two-time World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers from the San Diego Padres in the National League West.
The Padres claimed the opener of the first series of the season with the Dodgers them four straight victories and boosted them over Los Angeles for first place by a half-game. San Diego can secure the series win Tuesday in the second of a three-game series versus the visiting Dodgers.
“I think that we bring out the best in them, they bring out the best in us,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. “I think it’s good for us. I think it’s good for baseball. I think it’s good for Southern California, the National League. They’re talented.”
It was the talent on the pitching staff that stood out Monday. San Diego managed just four hits but the first was Miguel Andujar’s one-out homer in the bottom of the first inning. From there, Michael King and two relievers checked Los Angeles’ powerful offense on five hits.
It was the type of game the Padres know they have to play against the Dodgers.
“It’s three games, we’ve got to play really well,” first-year manager Craig Stammen said of the series. “They’re a great team. We’re going to play our best – and then move on with the rest of the season.”
Right-hander Griffin Canning (0-2, 10.64 ERA) hopes to move on from a rocky outing in Milwaukee, where he allowed six runs and got only five outs Thursday in a 7-1 loss. Canning walked four — all in a row in the first inning — and gave up five hits while striking out two. He’s 3-1 with a 3.64 ERA in six career starts against Los Angeles.
While Canning tries to author a bounce-back performance, the Dodgers’ Emmet Sheehan (3-1, 4.54) wants to continue what he did Thursday night during a 5-2 win over San Francisco.
Sheehan permitted just two hits and two walks while striking six over six innings, getting nicked for two runs on an inside-the-park homer by Jung Hoo Lee in the fifth that left fielder Teoscar Hernandez badly misplayed. In his only career start against San Diego, Sheehan strike out six and yielded only one run on three hits in four innings.
Los Angeles came into town with a five-game winning streak that included a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels by a combined score of 31-3. But its offense couldn’t give Yoshinobu Yamamoto the support he needed in a classic pitcher’s duel.
“You’ve got to score runs,” Roberts said.
One reason the Dodgers were blanked for the second time this year was the work of Padres catcher Rodolfo Duran. He nailed Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani stealing in the first four innings, then won a key ABS challenge in the ninth that led to Mason Miller overcoming consecutive walks to notch his 15th save in as many chances.
“He gets a ton of credit,” Stammen said of Duran. “He threw out two runners and that gave Michael King an extra inning. That sets us up well for the rest of the series.
–Field Level Media
