The Los Angeles Dodgers appeared on their way to a relatively comfortable win but Max Scherzer wasn’t sharp and sloppy defense allowed the San Diego Padres to storm back. However, the Dodgers responded with four home runs in the eighth inning of an 11-9 comeback win.
Corey Seager helped spark the Dodgers early as his one-out double in the first inning was followed by an RBI single from Trea Turner, who took second base on the throw back into the infield. Max Muncy then scored Turner with a base hit, and AJ Pollock added a two-run home run.
The Padres got on the board when Victor Caratini tomahawked a fastball out of the zone for a line-drive homer over the short wall in left field. L.A. responded in the bottom of the second inning with an RBI double from Seager, but the wheels fell off from there.
San Diego continued with their aggressive approach against Scherzer, in particular Manny Machado, who hit a two-run home run in the third inning. To that point in the game Machado was 2-for-2 with a single and homer on just two pitches seen.
The Dodgers then committed two errors in the fourth inning, with the second allowing the tying run to score with two outs. Scherzer retired the side in order in the fifth — his first and only time doing so on the night — but failed to make it out of next inning.
Some of that was due to Gavin Lux not being able to make a running catch in center field. Lux not only had the ball pop out of his glove, but went crashing into the fence at full speed and needed to be removed from the game.
Scherzer wound up pitching just 5.1 innings with six runs (five earned) allowed on a season-high 11 hits. Excluding an injury-shortened outing in which he faced just one batter, Scherzer’s four strikeouts marked the first time this year he didn’t have at least five.
Scherzer concluded the season having allowed a combined 10 earned runs in his last two starts, which exceeded the five runs opponents managed through the right-hander’s first nine outings with L.A.
The Padres blew the game open against Brusdar Graterol in the seventh inning as he allowed three runs and failed to retire any of the four batters faced.
Just as quickly as the Padres stormed ahead, the Dodgers put on a power display to climb back into the game. Mookie Betts led off the seventh inning with a home run, and Max Muncy and Pollock went back-to-back in the eighth.
Cody Bellinger tied the game with his solo home run two batters later, Justin Turner followed with a pinch-hit double, and Seager capped off the electric comeback with a game-winning two-run homer.
Dodgers keep pace in NL West
The dramatic late-game rally allowed the Dodgers to keep pace with the San Francisco Giants and only remain two games back in the National League West. L.A. still faces an uphill battle, but nonetheless remain alive.
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