Dodgers fall apart in eighth inning as Padres rally for seven runs
SAN DIEGO – Kike’ Hernandez has made some game-changing defensive plays during his time with the Dodgers.
This qualifies as another one.
Hernandez tried to make a diving play on a weak grounder and shovel a throw to first base on Juan Soto’s bases-loaded dribbler in the eighth inning Saturday night. Two runs scored when his errant attempt went nowhere near first base and the floor collapsed under the Dodgers. The San Diego Padres scored seven times in the inning to come from behind and beat the Dodgers 8-3.
The Padres’ seven-run comeback matched the Dodgers’ five-run rally to win Friday’s game after trailing 3-2 in the eighth and might give life to a Padres team that has been in desperate need of some.
“I think so,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think tonight they’re feeling pretty good about themselves, like we felt last night. But with baseball, it’s a new day and we have to be ready to go tomorrow.”
The Dodgers went into the eighth inning with a 3-1 lead but Yency Almonte couldn’t find the strike zone, giving up a single and walking Ha-Seong Kim and Fernando Tatis Jr. to load the bases.
“I really don’t have a good answer. He just wasn’t good,” Roberts said. “He just completely lost command. It wasn’t a good one.”
This is three poor outings in a row for Almonte whose place in the bullpen circle of trust is eroding with the arrival of Joe Kelly and reliability of Ryan Brasier. Almonte has walked seven and hit a batter and given up three hits including a home run while retiring just eight of the past 19 batters he has faced.
“It’s pretty easy in my chair,” Roberts said. “You give guys opportunities, and they play themselves into their own roles. I’ll leave it at that.”
Caleb Ferguson came in and got inside on Soto, getting him to chop a soft ground ball into the grass to the right side. Hernandez charged in and tried to get Soto at first base but his wild throw bounded into the Padres’ dugout, allowing two runs to score and setting up a two-run single by the next hitter, Manny Machado.
“He’s just such a good defender, so I’m not gonna sit here and say if he would’ve made the play,” Roberts said. “That’s an instinctual play. It was a do-or-die play for him and he did the best he could.”
Roberts said he couldn’t tell if Soto would have been out if Hernandez had made a good throw — but the odds of him making a good throw while flinging his body forward were not good.
“I tried to force a play and threw it away,” Hernandez said, acknowledging that it would have taken a pretty spectacular play to get Soto.
“Yeah, that was the plan. I did it but I just threw it away.”
If Hernandez had not made an attempt, the Dodgers would have been faced with a bases-loaded situation.
“If he eats it, you’ve still got to get an out,” Roberts said. “I think you’ve got to try to get him because if he eats it we’re still bases loaded with Machado up. So we’re still in a tough spot. We’re up a run at that point in time. Could it have changed because Machado hits into a play because we’re not infield in? Maybe.”
As it was, things spiraled on the Dodgers.
Ferguson had Machado picked off first base but threw wildly over Freddie Freeman’s head, sending Machado to third. Jake Cronenworth drove him in with an RBI single to left. Trent Grisham added a two-run single as Ferguson faced seven batters and retired only one.
“The inning got away from from us right there. We just couldn’t minimize damage,” Roberts said.
The bullpen’s collapse rewrote the ending of a game that went according to the Dodgers’ script for the first seven innings.
They used right-hander Michael Grove to open for left-hander Ryan Yarbrough. Grove didn’t look like he needed any help as he struck out the first four Padres (including the left-handed Juan Soto). He gave up a single to Xander Bogaerts and Roberts went to the script, bringing Yarbrough in to face left-handed DH Ji-Man Choi (Padres manager Bob Melvin waiting to pinch-hit with right-handed Garrett Cooper until later).
In his Dodgers debut, Yarbrough struck out three of the first four batters he faced and retired six of the first seven before giving up a solo home run to Machado and then retiring seven more in a row.
“That was the plan for Michael. He did a great job,” Roberts said of the five-batter opening. “As far as Yarbrough, it was great. He gave us exactly what we needed. When he left the game we were in a great spot to win a ballgame.”
Between them, Grove and Yarbrough went 5 ⅔ innings, allowing one run on four hits while striking out seven without a walk – better than what the Padres got from their National League Cy Young candidate Blake Snell.
Snell had a 0.73 ERA over his previous 13 starts and hadn’t given up more than two runs in a start since May. But the Dodgers got him for single runs in the first, second and fifth innings including a solo home run by Will Smith.