Padres beat Dodgers 5-6, earning 5/7 stars.

Today’s Dodgers-Padres game featured a matchup of rookie pitchers where both starters struggled and both offenses flexed some muscle. The game was entertaining from start to finish, so I’ll present the highlights and lowlights in a “product review” style and you can decide whether to buy what I’m selling or keep on browsing.

Pros:

• Hunter Renfroe opened the Padres’ scoring with a two-run double, plating Margot and Solarte. Dickerson got thrown out at third. I can’t blame Dickerson, I think this was Glenn Hoffman getting a little too aggressive, but still it’s nice to see Renfroe rake and Margot fly. Ryan Schimpf followed with a double, scoring Renfroe. Renfroe finished 2-for-4 with a homer and 4 RBI’s, while Margot went 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base. It was fun to watch the combination of speed and power working together like the mighty limbs of Voltron.
• The Legend of Hunter Renfroe continued to grow as he hit the first ever homer to reach the top of the Western Metal Supply Building in a regulation game (or so I was told, unconfirmed). The bomb went an estimated 434 feet. It was high. It was far. It was GONE! After a walk to Schimpf, Dodgers starter Jose de Leon was chased.

• Austin Hedges looks so cool and steady behind the plate. The bat didn’t show tonight, but the arm certainly did, as this off-line throw still got there fast enough to gun down Yasmani Grandal.
• Yangervis Solarte flashed quality leather a few times tonight, with some sweet picks at his typical post at third base, along with this sweet diving catch from the shift, which earned “Hang a Star” praise. Even nicer that it foiled the beloved Chase Utley.
• Solarte also continued his hitting streak to 13 games. That’s the longest such streak for the Padres this year, and the longest of Solarte’s career.
• Brandon Maurer continued to get the job done in the ninth, freezing Andre Ethier to get the final out in reverse-K fashion. He’s not the cleanest closer, but he’s been effective.

Cons:

• Luis Perdomo wasn’t very good tonight. He gave up an opposite-field homer to leadoff hitter (and human garbage) Chase Utley. A couple of batters later, Adrian Gonzalez launched a bomb off Perdomo. He got the win, but I don’t know if you can really say that he “earned” it.
• Adrian Gonzalez continued to plague his former hometown team with this RBI double to tie things up in the third. Nice guy I’m sure, I respect his game, but dangit, he needs to quit killing Padres pitching. Or maybe they just need to stay out of his hot zone.
• Joc Pederson got a big piece of the action, with a bomb of his own off Perdomo.
• Pinch runner Travis Jankowski put on the uniform of his nemesis alter ego, TOOTBLANkowski, getting picked off way too easily in the eighth.

In the end, the good guys won 5-6. An entertaining game came to a pleasant conclusion, and the two teams will face again tomorrow. Thursday’s home closer is slated to start at 6:10, with Dodgers phenom Julio Urias squaring off against Christian Friedrich. Tomorrow will also mark the final career game of esteemed broadcaster Dick Enberg. Be sure to flip on the broadcast to hear his dulcet tones one last time.