For a second time in as many head-to-head series against the San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Dodgers needed a win in order to stave off being swept in the three-game set. Good fortune was on the Dodgers’ side the first time around as Clayton Kershaw threw a complete-game shutout.
However, on Sunday, the Dodgers needed Kenta Maeda to shake off four consecutive subpar starts, and for their offense to find consistency that’s largely eluded them throughout the season. Maeda largely held up his end of the bargain, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning.
Melvin Upton Jr.’s leadoff single infused some life into the Padres as they took a 1-0 lead two batters later. Maeda issued a two-out walk that loaded the bases, then caught some bad luck as a Wil Myers flare to right field got by a diving Yasiel Puig and resulted in a bases-clearing triple.
The Dodgers rallied for three runs in the sixth inning and tied the game in the seventh on a Justin Turner pinch-hit solo home run. Then in the eighth, Howie Kendrick hit a solo home run to give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead.
Kendrick’s home run was one of four hits he had on the afternoon, finishing a triple shy of the cycle:
San Diego scored a run to pull even in the bottom of the eighth, and the game went into extra innings. Both clubs squandered multiple opportunities to take a lead, which left Alex Wood and others in the Dodgers dugout to resort to rally caps:
Having left multiple runners on base during his previous at-bats and failing to advance on an A.J. Ellis sacrifice bunt, Puig atoned for himself with two-run single in the 17th inning to give the Dodgers a 7-5 lead:
As Ross Stripling worked to wrap up the Dodgers’ win, the sprinklers in right field turned on:
