The San Diego Padres have been one of the more patient teams at the plate this season, but they swung early and often against Clayton Kershaw on Friday night en route to a 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Yeah, nothing new. I would say that’s kind of the norm for most teams against me,” Kershaw said of the Padres’ approach. “It’s to try and be aggressive and attack early. Tonight it was probably a little bit more so, but that probably was just a product of facing me six days ago.
“Having a better idea of what to expect and what to do. That’s just kind of the game within the game facing the same team twice in a row.”
When Kershaw faced the Padres at Petco Park last week he held them to just two hits and two walks while collecting eight strikeouts over six shutout innings. After being given a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, Kershaw surrendered solo home runs in the second and third.
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a second home run in the fifth inning. “I just made some mistakes. He did a good job of hitting the ball really hard,” Kershaw said of the two long balls the Padres’ star shortstop slugged.
“Obviously made some mistakes and they went over the fence, so that was kind of the difference in the game. Overall, it’s good to get deep in the game. There were some positive things, but the mistakes found a way over the fence unfortunately.”
Austin Barnes felt the first-pitch fastball Tatis ambushed in the third inning “wasn’t too bad of a pitch.” Barnes did acknowledge Kershaw’s slider on a 3-1 count in the fifth was elevated.
“But Kersh pitched well. He went up and down the lineup, only gave up three mistakes. They just made us pay for it,” Barnes added.
Tatis Jr. makes MLB history with April 23 home runs
Friday marked the 22nd anniversary of Fernando Tatis hitting two grand slams in the same inning at Dodger Stadium. Unsurprisingly, Tatis Jr. made April 23 the first time in MLB history that a father and son duo hit multiple home runs on the same calendar date.
“He’s a great player. He’s going to get his hits and he’s going to slug, especially if you make mistakes,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You look at those pitches, they were just mistakes. Guys like that, they’re going to make you pay.”
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