Pa Rowan Kauner
Posted by FOX Sports MLB
LOS ANGELES — Even the goose rally couldn’t budge Smart people‘ wednesday success.
They will head to San Diego with a NL division lead in each game and will be left to lament their failures, take chances and finish games in 5-3 Game 2 loss yes Padreswhose players have yet to surrender a streak in 9⅓ innings of that streak.
It’s not a lack of opportunity.
The Dodgers’ two-run streak remained within 90 feet with less than two outs and a chance to tie or take the lead in the final innings Wednesday. Twice this player never left third base.
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Will Smith started the sixth inning with a single, and Max Muncy followed by a 357-foot drive to right field. The ball bounced over the wall in one hop, but Muncie only made it to first base. Manager Dave Roberts thought the deck was from the right fielder Juan Soto Muncy was confused as he confirmed it.
– I thought Soto would catch him, – said Mansi. “Then when he didn’t catch it, Will was right in front of me, and I wasn’t sure if he was going to go to third or not. By the time I saw him go to third, it was too late for me to take decision, and I didn’t want to go out for a second right there.”
Runners on the corners, rather than two runners in scoring position, will prove costly.
The Padres turned to their bullpen as a hard hitting right-hander Robert Suarez entered for Yu Darvish. Suarez struck out Justin Turner before getting Gavin Lux turn into an inning-ending double play.
“We had our chances,” Lux said. “But that’s baseball.”
Through the pitching, the Dodgers’ mistakes extended to their defense.
Both Darvish and the Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw allowed three runs in five innings. The Dodgers called Brusdar Graterol for the sixth innings which began with a Brandon Drury single From where the grounder followed Jake Cronenworth, but the ball was hit too slowly to convert two. Then there was a potential double play, but the ball was hit softer than the shortstop Trea Turner waited, and he could not stand the short jump. All runners arrived safely.
“I thought maybe he was too fast,” manager Dave Roberts said. “You’re not going to double a guy, so just getting the lead was really important and I just think the exchange wasn’t good.”
A bounce-back RBI single to right followed and put the Padres ahead for good.
The inning could have been far more devastating. Trent Grisham tried to make a run that Graterol blocked by running off the mound and making an athletic throw to get Will Myers on a plate. The inning ended with a sprinting over-the-shoulder catch Cody Bellinger in the center of the field.
But the damage was done. After solo pictures with Freddie Freeman in the first, Muncie in the second and Turner in the third, the Dodgers scored again.
They loaded the bases in the seventh, but a line drive to center field from Smith left the Dodgers empty-handed. They finished the night 0 for 8 with runs scored, losing 10 men on base.
“You just look at the game and there were a couple of opportunities — two innings back to back — where we had an opportunity, situationally, to make a run to tie the game, let alone potentially take the lead,” Roberts said. We couldn’t do it.
Another opportunity came in the eighth inning after a short delay as the goose landed in shallow center field.
Lux followed with a two-out single. Then the Padres turned closer Josh Hader with two outputs, and Tracy Thompson a walk worked. Perhaps the feathered friend switched his mojo.
Goose on the loose at Dodger Stadium!
Goose was on the field in the eighth inning of Game 2 of the NLDS between the Padres and Dodgers.
But again, the Dodgers put two runners on base. And again it’s to no avail.
(It was an ordinary goose, not a rally goose.)
Bellinger singled the previous inning, but the Dodgers went to the bench to relieve the lefty-lefty. Bellinger is 3-12 with a home run and five strikeouts in his career against Hader. Chris Taylor, one pinch-hitting option is 3-for-8 with two walks against a hard-throwing lefty. Roberts also said this before the series began Miguel Vargas was on the list because of his hit-tool and bat-to-ball ability, but he wasn’t a rookie who grabbed the bat.
Instead, the Dodgers went with a backup catcher Austin Barnes, who was 1-for-6 with three strikeouts in his career against Hader. Taylor’s health was a question entering the postseason after he dealt with a neck problem late in the year, but Roberts said that didn’t factor into the decision. Taylor is expected to start the third game.
Roberts liked Barnes’ short swing and flat bat trajectory against Hader rather than Taylor’s bigger upswing, but Barnes flied out to center field.
“He took two good swings,” Roberts said.
Another chance awaited in the ninth. The Dodgers put a runner in scoring position for the fourth straight inning, but Freeman was left on second base.
The Dodgers’ 11 hits on Wednesday were just three runs and the streak will continue this weekend at Petco Park.
“We had a lot of opportunities. We just didn’t capitalize on them today,” Freeman said. “If we continue to create those opportunities on Friday and make big strides, we’ll be fine.”
Rowan Kauner covers the Dodgers and the NL West for FOX Sports. He previously served as the Dodgers’ digital and print editor. Follow him on Twitter at @RavanKauner.
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