Padres bounce back with 5-4 win over Dodgers

After dropping their final two games against the Rockies, the Padres needed to bounce back in a big way against the rival Dodgers as to not completely lose all their hard-earned momentum through the start of this season. Last night, San Diego showed grit and composure through the final three innings to outlast Los Angeles in a 5-4 nail-biter.

Chris Paddack (2-0) got the win last night after pitching six innings, doing his best to limit the Dodger’s equally-effective offense through the first half of the contest. Things didn’t look great from the jump as RF Joc Pederson took Paddack out of the yard on the very first pitch of the game. Luckily, The Sheriff rebounded with back-to-back Ks and retired the next three batters to minimize the early damage. He finished with five hits and three runs allowed with five total strikeouts.

L.A.’s Walker Buehler went five innings and allowed three hits, three runs, and struck out three.

Last night was a classic back-and-forth affair between the divisional opponents, with the lead changing or things getting tied up four times through the first half of the contest. After Pederson’s opening home run, CF Trent Grisham responded on the other side of the inning with his team-leading fourth home run of the young season, tying things at 1-1.

In the bottom of the fourth, RF Wil Myers hit the Padres’ second of three home runs on the night, a solo shot to right that pushed San Diego ahead 2-1 near the midway point. The Dodgers clawed their way back into the lead in the fifth with a three-hit inning that saw them score two more runs to bring their lead to 3-2.

At this point the Padres started asserting some dominance, scoring three unanswered runs over the next two innings which started with SS Fernando Tatis Jr.’s solo home run and ended with a rare base hit by C Austin Hedges that pushed their lead up to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth.

That 5-3 score would stand until the top of the ninth when CF Cody Bellinger took CL Kirby Yates’ second pitch of the night for a zero-out solo shot, closing the lead to just one. In class Yates fashion, however, the Padres’ closer K’d the final three batters and the Padres were able to walk away on top.

The Friars (7-4) are back in Petco Park tonight against the Dodgers (7-4) at 6:10pm PT to battle it out for sole-possession of second place in the NL West behind the Rockies (7-2).