Padres fail to sweep Dodgers in marathon 17 inning loss

The theme of this series has been late Padres comebacks and this game did not disappoint on that level. However, it did ultimately disappoint any that were hoping for a series sweep of the rival Dodgers. The late innings stuff also did nothing to help with the lack of excitement early in the game. In the first 4 and a half innings the only semblances of offense were a Trayce Thompson single and a couple hit batsmen. You could call it a pitchers duel, but it did not seem like either pitcher was especially sharp and there weren't even dramatic defenses plays. Balls just found fielders over and over again for a while.

The first truly notable thing in the game was when a foul tip hit home plate umpire David Rackley in a very sensitive place. He was forced to leave the game and second base umpire Alfonso Marquez too over behind the plate. The rest of the game would be officiated by only 3 umpires, but it wouldn't affect the outcome.

The Padres finally broke through the doldrums of this previously yawn-worthy mid-afternoon affair in the bottom of the 5th inning. Melvin Upton led of the inning with a single that put to rest a budding no-hit bid by Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda. Upton proceeded to swipe second base and move to third on a Wallace ground out. Christian Bethancourt would then sneak a grounder past the SS to drive in the game's first run.

Much to the surprise of the likely half asleep crowd, the Padres weren't done in that inning. Colin Rea got a hit and Jon Jay worked a walk to load the bases with two outs. Wil Myers then blooped a ball into RF that a diving Yasiel Puig couldn't reach. The ball would get past him and result in a bases clearing 3 RBI triple that pushed the Friars lead up to 4-0.

That run scoring by the Padres seemed to wake up the Dodgers as well. In the 6th, Rea gave up first run and was relieved by Kevin Quackenbush who allowed the two runners he inherited to score. That closed the gap to 4-3. In the next couple of innings, a pair of solo home runs for the Dodgers would flip the score. Justin Turner sent one deep off of Ryan Buchter in the 7th. Howie Kendrick launched one off of Brandon Maurer in the 8th that just cleared the fence and made it 5-4.

That run-scoring outburst served to a set up another late innings comeback for the Friars. Melvin Upton, who was already the hero of Friday night's game as well as being the first player to cross home plate in this, provided some heroics again. With Wil Myers on base in the bottom of the 8th, Upton blooped a gapper that just cleared the outstretched glove of the center fielder and kicked away. Upton would coast around to the third base for a game-tying RBI triple.

The next 8 innings proved to be as scoreless as the first 4 of the game, but nowhere near as boring. In the 11th, Solarte worked a leadoff walk and was moved to 3B with one out, but was left stranded. In the 14th, Luis Perdomo got into a no-out-bases-loaded jam, but got out of it with a 4-2-3 double play and subsequent strikeout. A one out double by Kendrick was threatening in the top of the 15th, but Perdomo handled that one as well.

It would be the 17th inning, over 5 hours from first pitch, that proved to be the decisive frame. Rookie Luis Perdomo was working on his 5th inning of relief at that point and got tagged with a leadoff double by Kendrick. A couple intentional walks sandwiched a groundout and gave Yasiel Puig a bases loaded opportunity. He cashed in a 2 RBI single. The exhausted Perdomo would let two more score as well. Manager Andy Green was simply out of options and had to let the kid fend for himself. It wasn't fair, but nobody said baseball was.