Dodgers: Bellinger isn’t sure when his leg will be healed enough for him to return to the lineup.
LOS ANGELES » The Dodgers and San Diego Padres pulled their budding rivalry back off the shelf and took another swallow Thursday night.
Yep — still good.
After last weekend’s exciting three-game series at Petco Park, everyone just wanted a replay. They got two in the eighth inning Thursday night. The Dodgers split the pair and came up short, losing 3-2 to the Padres at Dodger Stadium.
Tied after seven innings, the Padres pushed across the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth.
Justin Turner led off the bottom of the eighth with a single and Will Smith followed by lofting a high fly ball down the left-field line. Jurickson Profar raced over and made a diving attempt as the ball bounced off the chalked line.
Umpire Jim Reynolds signaled the ball had landed foul, but a replay review overruled him. Smith was awarded a double, pumping life into a potential Dodgers rally.
After Max Muncy grounded out, A.J. Pollock was intentionally walked to load the bases for Sheldon Neuse, a late addition to the lineup after both Chris Taylor and Zach McKinstry were scratched with lower back stiffness.
Neuse hit a bullet, a 108.7-mph one-hopper that Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth somehow smothered and tossed to shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. to start an inningending double play.
That went to replay as well, but the call was confirmed and the Dodgers’ rally was snuffed out.
The dramatic finish followed a slow build as Walker Buehler and Ryan Weathers dominated hitters, allowing a total of five hits through the first six innings.
The youngest pitcher in the majors this season, Weathers made his majorleague debut in the postseason (one of only two players in baseball history who can say that). Counting that relief appearance in the NL Division Series, the 21-year-old left-hander has pitched in six bigleague games, half of them against the Dodgers. He hasn’t allowed a run in 10 2/3 innings against them.
Held to two hits in Seattle on Wednesday, the Dodgers managed just one off Weathers — a leadoff single by Buehler in the third inning. On a chilly night at Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers hit three long fly balls that died short of the fences — a 380-foot fly out to center field by Will Smith, a 361-foot drive to the wall in left by A.J. Pollock and a 377-foot fly out to right-center by Neuse.
Buehler, meanwhile, was rediscovering his putaway pitch and striking out a season-high nine in seven innings (he had no more than four strikeouts in any of his first three starts). But the Padres put three singles together for a run in the fourth and Trent Grisham sent a 1-and-0 fastball deep into the right field pavilion for another.
The Dodgers swallowed up that 2-0 lead with two swings in the seventh inning off Padres reliever Emilio Pagan. Pollock and Neuse hit back-to-back home runs
Those back-to-back blows were the last of the 21st-century offense for the night.
The Padres put together the winning rally in the eighth against Blake Treinen. Profar and Victor Caratini led off with back-to-back singles, Profar going to third on Caratini’s hit. When Tatis hit a ground ball to short, the Dodgers turned a double play as the winning run scored.