Dodger offense rallies after Snell’s departure in familiar comeback win
By: Rowan Kavner
Tags: Dodgers, Padres, MLB, Postgame

(Photo by Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

by Rowan Kavner

The teams changed. The stakes differed considerably. But as Padres starter Blake Snell departed with a one-run lead and one out in the sixth inning Saturday, the parallels to Game 6 of the World Series were hard to ignore.

Especially with what came next in a 5–4 Dodger comeback win.

Much like that deciding Fall Classic game against the Rays, the Dodgers struck immediately against the opposing bullpen after Snell left on Saturday. Three straight singles and a bases-loaded walk by Mookie Betts tied the game, and a two-run single by Corey Seager provided the Dodgers their first lead in a 5–4 comeback win to snap a two-game skid against the Padres.

“I did feel that just getting somebody else in there might’ve changed the tide,” said manager Dave Roberts. “Fortunately, we got some runs and tied the game up, took the lead. We needed every run tonight.”

There were, of course, some obvious differences. In the World Series, the Dodgers hadn’t scored a run at the time of Snell’s departure. They only had two baserunners against him and struck out nine times.

On Saturday, Roberts thought the Dodgers were seeing the ball better against the talented left-hander. They scored runs against him in the third and fourth innings, though they played from behind most of the night.

The sixth-inning breakout snapped a skid of six straight games scoring three runs or fewer. On Saturday, the Dodgers’ 12 hits equaled their hit total of their previous three games combined. Their 23 hits over their previous six games were their fewest in a six-game stretch since September 1909.

“We’ve had good ABs,” Seager said. “We’ve had moments where we’ve hit the ball hard. We just haven’t had that big hit in that moment to kind of pass the baton and keep things going, and tonight we did.”

The Dodgers’ first run came across when Justin Turner worked the count from 0–2 to full before singling to finish off a two-out rally in the third inning. The second an inning later was more of a gift, when Snell fielded a chopper down the third-base line from Sheldon Neuse on a ball that looked destined to trickle foul.

That tied the game, but Fernando Tatis Jr. untied it. Tatis homered to start the scoring in the first inning off Trevor Bauer and did so again on a cutter off the plate in the sixth. It was his second straight multi-homer effort against the Dodgers.

After the home run, Tatis fully celebrated, closing his eye rounding first base and strutting after crossing home plate, both an ode to Bauer mannerisms. Bauer took no issue with it.

“If you give up a homer, a guy should celebrate it,” Bauer said. “It’s hard to hit in the big leagues. So, I’m all for it. I think it’s important the game moves in that direction and we stop throwing at people because they celebrated having some success on the field.

“Another one of those moments today, I got (Eric) Hosmer on a curveball in the dirt and hit him with a sword celebration. Next at-bat, he hit a curveball at my face and gave me a sword celebration at first. We kind of laughed about it. We’ve got a little history together, played against each other for many years. That’s what it is to be a competitor. I’m going to go at you and I’m going to get you sometimes, and you’re going to get me sometimes. We can have fun and we can celebrate it while we’re still competing at the highest level.”

Bauer allowed three runs (two earned) while striking out nine batters without a walk in his six innings. He was pleased with the outing and thought it was the best he commanded his slider all year. It’s the only pitch he threw to Manny Machado. He threw 13 of them to get three outs against Machado, who had entered 12-for-19 against Bauer.

“It’s my best pitch to righties,” Bauer said. “It’s always the gameplan to throw sliders to righties, and then you read based on what they’re doing, how they react to it. I had a really good slider tonight, so it was a lot easier to lean on it.”

After the Dodgers took their first lead on Seager’s single, the Padres continued to threaten late. They got one run back on a wild pitch, but Blake Treinen struck out Tatis and Trent Grisham with two runners in scoring position in the seventh inning to hold onto the lead.

Kenley Jansen secured a four-out save, stranding a runner at third base with a strikeout of Grisham to end it.

“It’s good to get a chance to split the series tomorrow,” said AJ Pollock. “That’s a good team over there. We’ve played some close games, but to come out and lock it up in the end there felt really good.”