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SAN DIEGO — Time after time, the Los Angeles Dodgers have put themselves in premium run-scoring alternatives and did not capitalize.
An 0-for-8 displaying with runners in scoring place in Wednesday’s Sport 2 of the Nationwide League Division Sequence was adopted by an 0-for-9 displaying in Friday’s Sport 3. Their hitless streak in these conditions has prolonged to 19 at-bats, tied for his or her longest rut of the season and marking their longest in a single playoff since 1981. Now their dominant season — of 111 wins and a plus-334 run-differential, tied for the fourth-longest in historical past — is on the verge of ending by the hands of the identical San Diego Padres group they steamrolled over the earlier six months. The postseason can typically really feel this sudden.
“They’re pitching good proper now, and we’re not hitting,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman mentioned after Los Angeles’ 2-1 loss from Petco Park, which gave the Padres a 2-1 benefit within the best-of-five division sequence. “We gotta hit tomorrow.”
San Diego native and lifelong Padres fan Joe Musgrove will take the ball in Saturday’s Sport 4 in entrance of what guarantees to be a frenzied house crowd and with a possibility to extinguish a Dodgers group that cruised to a division title. The Dodgers, who will begin left-hander Tyler Anderson, should get previous Musgrove and work out a solution to muster offense in opposition to a Padres bullpen that has restricted their prestigious offense to 9 baserunners and nil runs in 13 innings this sequence.
The Padres scored on a two-out single from Jake Cronenworth within the first and a first-pitch, fourth-inning house run from Trent Grisham within the fourth — his third this postseason, after hitting solely two over his final 40 regular-season video games. They, too, struggled offensively, going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring place — however they did sufficient.
“Simply well timed hitting,” Mookie Betts mentioned of the Dodgers’ points. “We’re not stringing collectively a number of at-bats to attain runs.”
Betts led off the sport with a single off Blake Snell and did not rating, as a substitute watching Trea Turner, Freeman and Will Smith strike out so as. It might turn out to be a theme. On two events, the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters reached base with none out and the celebrated prime of the Dodgers’ order didn’t come by way of. Within the third, Betts lined out, Turner struck out and, after Freeman’s stroll, Smith popped out. Within the fifth, Betts contributed a sacrifice fly, however Turner popped out and Freeman grounded out, failing to get the tying run in from third base.
“We’re being hyper-aggressive early in counts and never staying on the ball,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “They’re getting us with spin, they’re getting us on the skin a part of the plate.”
One other alternative introduced itself within the eighth, when Turner led off with an infield single. Freeman, Smith and Muncy had been due up subsequent, however Turner, the quickest man in baseball, didn’t try the stolen base that will have put the tying run in scoring place. The one time he gave the impression to be leaning in direction of doing so, Padres reliever Robert Suarez practically picked him off, inflicting Turner to jam his proper ring finger in opposition to first base. Turner retreated to the dugout to get taped — postgame X-rays on his finger had been detrimental — then watched the Nos. 3-5 hitters go down so as.
“He is fairly fast to the plate,” Turner mentioned of not trying to steal. “He seems to be like he has a big leg kick, but it surely’s quicker than you suppose, the instances are fairly low. He is below [1.3 seconds from the start of his deliver to when the baseball reaches the catcher’s mitt] lots, a pair 1-4’s in there, so that you gotta decide and select spots when you may attempt to take them. He was throwing the ball nicely, so I did not wanna give them any simple outs.”
The straightforward outs got here the next inning, when Josh Hader, who has appeared extra like his dominant self of late, breezed by way of the underside a part of the Dodgers’ lineup, culminating his outing with back-to-back strikeouts and igniting a sold-out, playoff-starved crowd of 45,137.
The Dodgers received their final 9 regular-season video games in opposition to the Padres in 2021, then went 14-5 in opposition to them in 2022, scoring greater than twice as many runs within the season sequence. After 162 video games, they had been 22 video games higher. However none of that issues now. The Padres, internet hosting a postseason sequence with followers within the stands for the primary time since 2006, are one win away from eliminating the group they have been chasing for the franchise’s whole existence, by no means extra aggressively than in these final 4 years.
Betts was requested if he is shocked that his star-studded group finds itself on this place.
“I am not shocked in any respect,” he mentioned. “They seem to be a good ‘ball group. Common season does not imply something. They’re taking part in nicely. We have not.”
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