Dodgers’ NL West lead grows to double digits with series win over Padres
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SAN DIEGO — One big hit and a bunch of great at-bats.
That’s all the Dodgers needed to take control of a rubber-match 4-2 win over the Padres on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park.
With the score tied entering the top of the fifth inning, and a pivotal midseason series hanging in the balance between National League West rivals, the Dodgers built the kind of big inning they’ve long felt defines their offense.
They stressed Padres ace Michael King with supreme plate discipline. Then they made him pay for the one mistake he left in the zone.
The inning began with three free bases: walks from Alex Freeland and Shohei Ohtani (who had opened the scoring in the third with an RBI single), then a hit-by-pitch of Andy Pages.
After that, former MVPs Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts came up and exemplified a pair of professional at-bats.
Freeman stayed alive in a nine-pitch battle against King, fouling off one two-strike offering after the next —including one that nearly drilled Betts in the on-deck circle — before finally walking on a changeup that appeared to catch the corner of the zone but wasn’t challenged by either of San Diego’s batterymates.
Betts then stepped in and waited King out for something over the plate. He laid off the first three pitches he saw. He then laced a two-run single to center on a sinker down the middle.
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The Dodgers would cling to the lead the rest of the way, getting a five-inning, one-run start out of Emmet Sheehan, then four stressful innings of one-run ball from the bullpen.
There were plenty of chances for the Padres to rally along the way, as they put the tying runners on base in the sixth and eighth and had Fernando Tatis Jr. up as the tying run with one out in the ninth. But they couldn’t replicate what the Dodgers did in the fifth. It underscored the difference in the game, the series and the NL West standings.
The Dodgers’ division lead was in no sort of danger entering this week’s series, even after the Padres trimmed it to eight games with a win in Friday night’s opener.
But now, with their second series win over the Padres in as many tries this year, their 10-game cushion is starting to feel insurmountable.
Granted, there is still half a season to play. And the Padres come to Dodger Stadium next week for a four-game series. But the way the Dodgers are playing — especially against the Padres so far this year –– it’s hard to imagine the division race getting close again.
California Post baseball columnist Dylan Hernandez covered Betts’ recent hot streak, which included another single Sunday in addition to his two-run knock in the fifth.
So we’ll use this space to focus on Freeland — who has not been swinging the bat well lately (.182 average with only two extra-base hits his last 21 games) but helped get both of the Dodgers’ scoring rallies started Sunday.
In the third, Freeland lined a leadoff single to left field, took second on a Chuckie Robinson sacrifice bunt, then scored on Ohtani’s RBI base hit. In the fifth, he reached again as the leadoff man by drawing a full-count walk off King, marking only the sixth time this month he’d reached safely twice in a game.
The performance came at a good time for the second-year utility man, who could be on the roster bubble with Teoscar Hernández expected back Monday.
It’s more likely that outfielder Ryan Ward gets optioned to make space for Hernández. Still, Freeland offering a reminder of his value should only help his case in this latest roster crunch.
Pages is becoming the latest victim of the Dodgers’ two-hole curse. After going hitless in three at-bats on Sunday (he was hit by a pitch in his two other trips to the plate), Pages is now batting just .208 this month, which he has spent entirely in the No. 2 spot of the batting order.
No one who has slotted into the place has seemed to do well this year, with the Dodgers having already bumped Kyle Tucker and Betts down the order.
The Dodgers will make their first road trip to Sacramento this week, opening a three-game series against the Athletics — who continue to play in the Giants’ Triple-A park — on Monday. Eric Lauer (3-5, 4.87 ERA) will start and not follow an opener, manager Dave Roberts said pregame. Left-handed rookie Gage Jump (3-1, 2.04 ERA) will square off against him.