Padres 3, Dodgers 2: Friars walk off again

For the second night in a row, the Padres walked off against the Dodgers. Tonight the blame falls on LA releiver Chin-hui Tsao, who walked three Friars in a row to bring home the winning run in the eleventh inning. Cesar Vargas still hasn't picked up his first win, despite allowing just two runs and four hits in seven innings of work, but he kept the team in the game to earn their second straight series victory over the Dodgers.

It took five and a half innings for anyone to get on board in a game that started out has a pitchers' duel. In the bottom of the sixth, Jon Jay drew a one-out walk from Alex Wood. Wil Myers followed that up with a single to put runners at the corners for Matt Kemp, who hit a sacrifice fly to put the Friars on top.

The Dodgers came back in the seventh to do their only damage to Vargas for the evening. Former Friar Adrian Gonzalez took Vargas's first pitch to left field for a single. The Padres' starter got ahead on Trayce Thompson with a 1-2 count, but Thompson fought back on the fourth pitch and drove it over the center field fence to put LA on top.

Their lead didn't hold, as Derek Norris came up after the seventh inning stretch to send a leadoff double into left field. Brett Wallace backed that up with a single, putting Padres on first and third for the newly returned Yangervis Solarte. Solarte couldn't make anything happen with his pop fly, but there was still just one out with Alexi Amarista at the plate. He flew out too, but his was deep enough to bring Norris home to tie the game.

That was all the scoring either team did in nine innings, so the game came down to extra innings. LA managed a walk in the tenth while the Friars went down in order, so the night wore on. Brad Hand retired the Dodgers in order in the top of the eleventh, but Wil Myers started the bottom half of the inning with a single. Matt Kemp couldn't make anything happen, and Melvin Upton, Jr. just barely missed a walkoff homer for the second night in a row. But then Tsao got sloppy. He loaded the bases with a pair of walks, throwing eight balls and two strikes to Norris and Wallace. That brought Solarte back to the plate, and he didn't even have to take the bat off his shoulder to be a hero. Tsao threw him four straight balls to end the game and give the Padres their second consecutive walkoff win.

The boys are still looking for their first sweep of the season, and Colin Rea will try to make that happen at 1:40 PM tomorrow.