Dodgers lose opener of NL West showdown series with Padres

The Dodgers waste scoring chances early and go 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position in a 4-2 loss that ends with Miguel Rojas hitting into a triple play with Shohei Ohtani on deck. Their lead in the division is down to two games over the Padres.

Sep 25, 2024 - 07:00

Dodgers lose opener of NL West showdown series with Padres

San Diego Padres first baseman Donovan Solano catches the ball to complete a game-ending triple play before the Dodgers’ Miguel Rojas, right, can reach the base during the ninth inning on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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LOS ANGELES — For the past two months, the Dodgers have largely tried to ignore the San Diego Padres, figuring they just had to take care of their own business and their National League West lead would stay sufficient to claim the division title for the 11th time in 12 years.

They can’t ignore them any longer.

In the opener of the most important September series the Dodgers have played since 2021, the Padres beat the Dodgers, 4-2, Tuesday night, ending the game in spectacular fashion.

The Dodgers threatened in the ninth inning, scoring once and putting the tying runs on base for Miguel Rojas – with Shohei Ohtani on deck. But third baseman Manny Machado handled Rojas’ hard ground ball to his backhand and started a spectacular 5-4-3 triple play to end the game.

“There’s less than a one percent chance that Shohei doesn’t come up to bat,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And unfortunately that small percentage came into play.

“It’s shocking. … That’s the least likely outcome, obviously looking at how the game is played and how many triple plays are turned in a year. To not get Shohei up is obviously very disappointing.”

Back on July 19, the Padres were no concern of the Dodgers who led them by eight games (and the Arizona Diamondbacks by seven). But the Padres have been the best team in baseball since then, going 41-16 and closing the gap on the Dodgers (who have been no slouches at 36-23 in that time).

But Tuesday’s loss trims the Dodgers’ lead in the division to just two games, matching the smallest it has been since April 25. Their magic number remains four. The Dodgers (93-64) will have to win the next two games against the Padres (91-66) in order to clinch before leaving town for a season-ending weekend series in Colorado – and they need to win at least one of the two to avoid leaving town in a tie with the Padres (who already hold the head-to-head tiebreaker).

The Padres clinched a postseason berth with the win, their eighth in 11 meetings with the Dodgers this season.

“This is kind of a mini-postseason for us – a three-game series where we’ve got to win the series,” Rojas said. “We got an opportunity tonight and we didn’t get it done. We’ve got to come back tomorrow, win tomorrow and win the next day. I feel that’s the mentality of everybody in this clubhouse.”

It was a “mini-postseason” snapshot indeed, reflecting many of the problems that have doomed the Dodgers in recent playoff exits – poor starting pitching and a lack of clutch hitting.

The Dodgers took an early lead when Shohei Ohtani led off the first inning with a ground rule double – his franchise record 95th extra-base hit of the season. He scored his MLB-leading 129th run of the season when Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts fielded Mookie Betts’ routine grounder and threw it away, over the head of first baseman Donovan Solano.

Betts went to third on Teoscar Hernandez’s one-out single. But Betts was caught off third base when Hernandez broke from first base on a double steal.

“It was a called double steal. Will (Smith) was down two strikes and (we were) trying to steal a run,” Roberts said.

An inning later, the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs but Betts couldn’t check his swing on a 1-and-2 sweeper from Padres right-hander Michael King.

The litany of wasted opportunities continued in the third inning when Hernandez was doubled off first on a line drive to second base.

“Yeah, there was a lot of them, a lot of situations where we had opportunities to score runs early in the game,” Rojas said. “This is one of those games where it kind of beats you. Early runs can win the game too.”

The Padres’ defense did the Dodgers no favors all night long. Profar made two diving catches in left field, taking hits away from Ohtani in the fifth and Betts in the eighth. And, Jackson Merrill tracked down Betts’ drive at the center field wall in the fifth inning. The Padres turned two double plays in addition to the game-ending triple play.

The Dodgers were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position heading into the ninth inning and down 4-1 after Landon Knack gave up a two-run home run to Jake Cronenworth in the second inning and two more runs in the fourth. All four Padres runs scored with two outs in the inning.

“We had opportunities,” Roberts said. “The only run we scored tonight, we got gifted from an error. You look at what those guys did tonight, they hit the ball hard all around the diamond and they got two-out hits.”

That wasn’t the Dodgers’ “only run.” Three straight singles in the ninth inning off Padres reliever Robert Suarez brought in a second run and put the tying runs at first and second for Rojas.

Rojas squared to bunt on the first pitch and took a strike. With the Padres anticipating another bunt attempt, Roberts took the bunt play off and let Rojas swing away.

“He was gonna bunt the first pitch, and then he goes down 0-1,” Roberts said. “They set up for the wheel. Bogaerts is in the hole. So you can’t bunt because you’re bunting into an out. With the infield in, Bogaerts out of position, the best chance is to put the ball in play and hopefully find a hole.”

He didn’t find a hole. He found a Gold Glove.

Machado was still playing in on the grass when Rojas hit a ground ball right at him. Machado took two big steps back to third base, stepped on the bag and made a strong throw to second where Cronenworth made the turn. His throw beat Rojas to first base easily.

“I feel like I had an opportunity to get the bunt down early on that at-bat, but I couldn’t get the job done there,” Rojas said. “Just because the way they were playing on defense, I think it made sense for me to swing the bat there. I’m totally confident that I can get to a fastball. Unfortunately, I hit it on the ground.

“I think I let the team down on that one.”

According to statistician Sarah Langs, it was the 28th game-ending triple play in MLB history. It was the fourth turned by a team on the same day it clinched a postseason berth – but the first to do both.

“I just don’t think that you’re expecting a triple play,” Roberts said, defending the decision to take the bunt play off. “He hit the ball hard. And I just can’t play the game of – if it gets through then it’s a great play and then if it’s hit right at him, it’s a bad play.

“The game tells you what to do. And in that situation, everyone is playing in, the shortstop is in the six-hole. There’s just a lot of holes out there. That’s just kind of the way you play baseball.”

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