Luis Perdomo was perfect through the first third of Sunday’s series finale at Dodger Stadium, and fared relatively well over six innings, with an exception coming in the fourth. The Los Angeles Dodgers erupted for five runs and hung on for a 6-4 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Perdomo’s trouble began when he hit Chris Taylor with a pitch to open the bottom of the fourth. Corey Seager followed with a line-drive single to center field, breaking up Perdomo’s no-hitter, and Justin Turner went opposite field for a go-ahead home run.
Cody Bellinger doubled before Perdomo could record the first out — on Chase Utley’s fly ball to deep left field. Yasmani Grandal tacked on a two-run homer, and Turner slugged a second home run in the eighth inning to provide an insurance run.
That gave Turner six home runs in the last eight games and his second multi-homer game in the past week week.
Kenta Maeda’s first-inning struggles surfaced once again, as he surrendered a one-out solo home run to Cory Spangenberg. Turner’s throwing error eventually led to second run for the Padres, scored on Wil Myers’ sacrifice fly.
Maeda then settled in and retired 14 consecutive batters, including striking out the side in the fifth inning. Trouble arose in the sixth as Manuel Margot’s leadoff single was followed by Spangenberg’s second home run of the game.
Maeda walked Yangervis Solarte with one out, which prompted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to call on Josh Fields. The right-handed reliever retired the two batters faced to strand the tying run in scoring position.
While Spangenberg went 2-for-3 with a pair of home runs off Maeda, the rest of the Padres were 2-for-18. The four runs allowed marked the first time Maeda surrendered more than two runs since the Padres pushed across five at Petco Park on July 2.
With an off-day Monday, Roberts leaned heavily on his bullpen. Pedro Baez tossed a 1-2-3 seventh inning, Luis Avilan worked around a leadoff double in the eighth to strand the tying run at third base, and Kenley Jansen appeared for a second consecutive day to earn the save.
The Dodgers improved to 16-0-3 since last losing a series to the Washington Nationals from June 5-7. What’s more, the Dodgers extended their streak to 57 consecutive games with at least two-extra base hits. It’s the longest such streak in MLB history since at least 1913.
