LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers are in some trouble.
And no, it’s not just that their fans decided to throw debris on the field. The Dodgers will head back to San Diego following a 10-2 blowout loss to the rival Padres. The NLDS is tied 1-1 and the Dodgers face a big concern with their pitching situation for the final three games.
The Padres slugged four home runs and Yu Darvish twirled seven masterful innings in a game that never felt close. Fernando Tatis Jr. clubbed his second long ball of the postseason on the second at-bat of the game, and San Diego never looked back.
This series now shifts down the interstate into San Diego. The Dodgers pitching remains thin. They’ve had their two starters struggle, and been forced to tax their bullpen. San Diego’s arms should be well-rested after a light load on Sunday night. – Sam Blum
Padres come to troll but mainly to play
In Saturday’s series opener, the Padres got a rare two-base throwing error from third baseman Manny Machado. The resulting base runner came around to score in an eventual two-run loss, serving as a reminder that the margins tend to be thin in October.
Yu Darvish pitched seven strong innings and retired Shohei Ohtani in all three meetings against his World Baseball Classic teammate. (Harry How / Getty Images)
In Sunday’s rebound performance, the Padres got the homer-robbing catch by Jurickson Profar, a sprinting snag by Fernando Tatis, and a couple of nifty plays at first base by Luis Arraez. Along the way, Profar temporarily fooled Dodgers fans (and Betts) into thinking he hadn’t robbed a homer, and Tatis danced in right field as the crowd booed him. In the top of the sixth, Profar jawed with Dodgers catcher Will Smith after Flaherty hit Tatis, and Flaherty and Machado yelled at each other after Flaherty struck out Machado.
Then, all hell broke loose in the seventh.
The theatrics underscored that the Padres are not easily daunted. Meanwhile, their crispy defensive play, coupled with big hits from Tatis, David Peralta and Jackson Merrill, reinforced the idea that San Diego might be the most complete team in the postseason. (Merrill added a leaping catch at the center-field in the sixth and an insurance-providing homer in the eighth.)
As an evened series shifts to the sound and fury of Petco Park, no one should expect the Padres to back down, especially with the multi-faceted strength of their roster. – Dennis Lin
Where do things go from now with Freddie Freeman?
Perhaps most consequential for the Dodgers is where things stand with Freeman. he gutted through a badly sprained right ankle, a bone bruise in that foot and lingering soreness in his side to be in the Game 1 lineup and even record a couple of hits. Successfully navigating that made Freeman’s inclusion in Game 2’s lineup almost anticlimactic, but the concern was raised again when Freeman exited in the sixth inning due to continued discomfort in the area.
Simply put, the Dodgers as constructed will need their lineup to drag them through this series. Freeman’s absence throws a wrench into things, particularly after the former MVP performed well even while clearly injured in Game 1.
“I think our players see the sacrifice he’s making,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday afternoon.
The short-term contingency of Max Muncy at first base and Kiké Hernández at third base has been laid out over the last week in case of emergency. That time might be here. – Fabian Ardaya
The Padres lost Game 1 largely because Ohtani again proved that no stage — not even his first postseason game — is big enough to contain his talent. A night later, Yu Darvish demonstrated how to remain poised amid a chaotic, extracurricular-filled game. He also showed one formula for subduing Ohtani.
Unlike Saturday, when the Padres struggled to keep the bottom third of the Dodgers’ lineup off base ahead of Ohtani’s at-bats, Darvish was precise and efficient throughout. He held L.A.’s bottom third to one hit, a fifth-inning single by Gavin Lux. After enduring a roughly 10-minute delay before the bottom of the seventh, he finished with seven innings of one-run, three-hit ball.
And, with no traffic present for Ohtani’s plate appearances, Darvish retired his World Baseball Classic teammate in each of their three encounters. A few days after the Padres learned Joe Musgrove would need Tommy John surgery, Darvish’s Game 2 supplied a welcome dose of encouragement. – Lin
(Top photo of Jurickson Profar: Harry How / Getty Images)
