Avoiding L.A. sweep more than just one win in April
The Padres needed that like a flower soaking up whatever water it can find in the Mojave. They needed that fuel like a jet with the gauge twitching near empty. They needed the jolt like a working mother racing for the coffee pot.
You get the idea. So, it seems, did the Padres.
The Dodgers pushed San Diego to the brink of sweepdom, brooms at the uncomfortable ready, before the Padres found a way to dig out the last one and douse doubts during a 5-2 win Sunday at Petco Park.
Three hits from Manny Machado, a pair of RBI hits in the late innings by Eric Hosmer and a slump-busting two-run double from Tommy Pham in the eighth inning meant a lost weekend was dodged, so to speak.
“That was huge for us,” Padres starter Blake Snell said.
A seven-game losing streak to the Dodgers? Mortuarybound. Those storm clouds? Shelved, for now. The batteries? Momentarily recharged. Take the psychiatrist off speed dial. Doom and gloom hopped on the Pacific Surfliner and headed north.
Instead of the Dodgers gaining three games on the Padres in the opening series between teams hyped to the moon this offseason, the bleeding was
stemmed. That’s big, even in April, given how many wins the bullies in blue are expected to pile up.
Normally, it should not matter mightily this early. Here’s why it feels different with the Dodgers sprinting out of the gate at a record pace and a normal postseason setup waiting at the close of 2021: Jacob deGrom.
Fall behind the Dodgers too far, too quickly, and all that structural strengthening could feel crack-ridden and fragile. You could find yourself in a one-game-to-survive wild-card situation come October — against someone like the Mets’ flamethrower.
Now, with four more at Dodger Stadium looming this week, opportunity suddenly feels springtime fresh.
“It was nice to get over that hump and be on the right side of this one,” Hosmer said.
The fact that the baserunner-stranding Padres climbed out of a 2-0 hole and consistently cashed in late seemed more epiphany than sign.
All these things were etched on the Padres scorecard, entering Sunday: First in baseball for walks (74), starting-pitcher ERA (2.35), walks and hits allowed per innings pitched (1.03), baserunners per nine innings (9.92) and infield hits (18) with the second-lowest strikeout percentage (19.2).
Yet they started the day 4½ games behind the 13-2 Dodgers, who owned the biggest division gap in baseball.
What’s the margin between these teams feel like with the Padres manufacturing a bit of course correction? Hold your thumb and index finger as close together as possible without touching. Right now, it feels like that.
The Dodgers surely sense it, too.
“It’s a hungry group,” manager Dave Roberts said.
So, exhale. For now. It’s a long season, but it could have felt much shorter in a hurry with a third straight setback to start the season.
The Padres entered the finale résumé-rich, production-light in the clutch despite the sterling offensive and pitching numbers. They waited … and waited … and waited for that big hit against the Dodgers, pushing the drama to the brink before another demoralizing fizzle.
Then Hosmer tied Sunday’s game with a run-scoring double in the seventh and a lead-grabbing single in the eighth. Then came Pham, whose .128 average coming in ranking second-worst among NL qualifiers, darting a double to left that plated two more.
The Padres, who had erased so much strong offensive base-building by grounding in a baseball-high 20 double plays before Sunday, finally kicked open the door. They proved that closes misses in big spots do not deflate the balloon.
One win, even before May blooms, kept the oxygen flowing.
“We feel good,” manager Jayce Tingler said. “We’re an energetic bunch. We’re upbeat.”
The back-and-forth, back-and-forth DNA of the series also showed that the 16 games to come will be mustwatch television. Everyone’s watching to see if the Padres are up to the task or whether they’ll shrink in the heat of those moments.
One game forced everyone to hang the “stay tuned” sign.
“They definitely feel like they’re postseason-type games, -type atmospheres,” Hosmer explained. “I think it was no secret, I think the whole baseball world was locked into this series.”
In a few swings of the bat, the Padres gave them a reason to do just that.