Once again it felt like October at Dodger Stadium. This time the home team was a little bit better.
Los Angeles kept the Padres in check late, winning 4-3. Tuesday’s San Diego win got Mike Shildt’s club within two games of the first place Dodgers. Now the deficit is three with four games to go.
The Padres played catchup all night.
Dylan Cease walked Shohei Ohtani to start the bottom of the first. Ohtani came in to score the game’s first run on a Teoscar Hernandez single.
Just as they did Tuesday night, the Padres took the lead right away. Xander Bogaerts drove Manny Machado in with an RBI single. Jake Cronenworth plated another run on a ground out to second.
Cease saw a 2-1 lead disappear in the fourth. Tommy Edman doubled and was driven in by Gavin Lux to tie the score. Cease then gave up a double to Ohtani that came off his bat at 116.8 miles per hour. Lux scored the go-ahead run.
Fernando Tatis Jr. evened the score, hitting a missile into the left field seats. It was his seventh homer in his last 13 games.
It was tied at three when Jeremiah Estrada walked Will Smith to start the sixth. The Dodgers’ catcher scored on an Ohtani single to put L.A. ahead 4-3.
The Padres did not have a plate appearance with a runner on second base from the fourth through eighth innings. Jake Cronenworth walked with two outs in the final frame. Brandon Lockridge came in to run and stole second. Donovan Solano struck out to end the comeback threat.
Both clubs issued six walks, but the Padres did not make the Dodgers’ mistakes pay – managing just four hits.
Cease was shaky early. He allowed two walks and the Hernandez RBI single, but a nice catch at the fence by Fernando Tatis Jr. limited the damage. After throwing 14.1 scoreless innings of his last two starts Cease gave up three earned in five innings, allowing five hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
The teams meet for the final time this regular season on Thursday night.
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