Most of the time, the San Diego Padres win bullpen battles.
Not Tuesday night, not against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who came up with five scoreless innings out of their pen to close a come-from-behind, 5-4 win that evened a hotly contested series between the top teams in the National League West.
“It was unreal,” Los Angeles starter Emmet Sheehan said of the bullpen’s work. “Your job as a starter is to get through six-plus innings, but to have them picking up for me was awesome.”
That sets up the series’ deciding game on Wednesday night, when Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani (3-2, 0.82 ERA) will attempt to keep his run going on the mound in addition to his increasingly hot bat.
Ohtani doubled twice and knocked in a run Tuesday night and has four hits in the series. In addition, he’s coming off a brilliant outing on the mound in a 4-0 victory over San Francisco last Wednesday, permitting four hits and two walks while striking out eight over seven innings.
This will be Ohtani’s third career start against San Diego. He lost his first start three years ago as a member of the Los Angeles Angels and worked just two innings in his return to the mound last June, allowing a run. Ohtani is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA lifetime against the Padres.
Opposing him will be right-hander Randy Vasquez (5-1, 2.68 ERA), who’s enjoying a breakout season. Vasquez is coming off a 2-0 win Friday in Seattle, where he cruised through six innings and permitted only four hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
Vasquez has faced the Dodgers three times in his career, going 0-1 with a 4.05 ERA. All of those games occurred last year, with the loss in relief.
The Dodgers have won six of their past seven games and the Padres four of their last five.
If the series finale is anything like the first two games, it will come down to the last pitch. The Padres earned a 1-0 win on Monday and held a 4-2 lead after four innings Tuesday night before Los Angeles rallied to regain first place in the division.
“Two good games, two one-run games,” San Diego manager Craig Stammen said. “They’re pitching their best guys and we’re pitching our best guys. That’s what baseball fans love, these games coming down to the balance.”
Both games have come down to the margins. On Monday night, it was an ABS challenge in the ninth inning that changed the tide for closer Mason Miller after he walked his first two batters and led to his 15th save in 15 chances.
Tuesday evening, it was Miller’s two-base throwing error on a pickoff attempt of pinch runner Alex Call at first — Call likely was out with an accurate throw — that teed up Andy Pages for the tie-breaking sacrifice fly on the ninth pitch of his at-bat.
“I felt confident the whole time through,” said Pages, whose 42 RBI are tied with Miami’s Liam Hicks for the MLB lead. “I had to stay confident in my approach and my plan.”
Stammen removed Miller after the sacrifice fly, noting that he threw 22 pitches in each of the series’ first two games.
As for the inaccurate pickoff throw?
“Their runner made a mistake, and Mason threw it away,” Stammen said. “Errors happen.”
–Field Level Media
