Padres Come To LA and Take The W

steemsports (80)in #steemsports • 6 years ago

SteemSports Presenter:@mateonav53

SteemSports Editor:@scottybuckets

Friday night was a chance for the Los Angeles Dodgers to strengthen their NL West Divisional lead with a win over the last place San Diego Padres. They gaining some breathing room after increasing their lead to 2.5 games before coming into this contest, but an unexpected 5-3 Padres win pushed LA back down into the thick of the divisional race. The second-place Colorado Rockies defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, so LA is now only 1.5 games ahead in the division.

The rookie Eric Lauer drew the start for San Diego, and he performed above and beyond for LA's neighbor to the south. In five innings pitched, he gave up one earned run off of four hits and one walk, to go with five strikeouts and a 1.20 WHIP. The young lefty proved a reliable presence for the Padres against a surprisingly underwhelming Dodgers lineup.

LA has traditionally struggled against left-handed pitching this year, so it was an even bolder move by skipper Dave Roberts to insert Yasiel Puig in the starting lineup. He probably thought that Puig was so hot that he would figure out this lefty. He did manage to knock in one RBI single, but it was his only hit out of four total at-bats. Kike Hernandez was the only one to find scoreboard success against Lauer himself, launching a solo home run in the third to get the Dodgers on the board.

Rich Hill was originally named the starter, but matchup changes prompted the right-hander Ross Stripling to walk out to the mound for the Dodgers. He only lasted 3.1 innings before Roberts gave him the hook after two back-to-back walks. He surrendered three hits and two earned runs to go along with two walks and four strikeouts. He got into a groove early on, pitching without surrendering a hit until a two-out single in the third inning from the bat of Will Myers. Roberts was eager to move on into the bullpen, but that strategy didn't hold as the Padres kept tacking on insurance runs in a timely fashion.

Hunter Renfroe and Freddy Galvis of the Padres both hit homers off the Dodgers in their win, and Will Myers cleared the baserunners with a double of his own. The Padres came into this game out of contention for a playoff spot, but they thought if they could get a W and ruin the Friday night of Dodger fans anxiously awaiting a playoff berth, well that's the next best thing.

Los Angeles will have their chance for revenge on Saturday evening at 6:10 PM Pacific time. Rich Hill will probably get the start this time and he'll go head-to-head with Padres right-hander Jacob Nix who is 2-3 on the year with a 5.75 ERA. Rich Hill has had a decent year himself with a 9-5 record and a 4.02 ERA. There should be an extra oomph in the Dodgers bats on Saturday, as their divisional lead shrinks with every poor performance they give. We will see who takes it!

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