The Los Angeles Dodgers were on their way to bouncing back from losing two of three to the New York Yankees, but Dustin May again struggled in the sixth inning and it resulted in a 4-3 loss to the San Diego Padres.
In what Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said would be the first of two starts before moving back to the bullpen, May was turning in arguably the best outing of his young career. That was until the sixth inning again proved to be his nemesis.
May retired the first nine batters faced before walking Greg Garcia to open the fourth. Two batters later A.J. Pollock made a sliding catch to rob Manny Machado of a bloop single and potential RBI.
Though, May promptly lost his no-hitter after that as Eric Hosmer lined an RBI single into center field. May kept the Padres to the one run until Austin Allen’s leadoff double in the sixth inning marked the beginning of his undoing.
After a base hit put runners at the corners with nobody out, Josh Naylor’s RBI single pulled the Padres even. Pollock’s throw to third base went over Corey Seager’s head, through Turner’s legs and without May backing up, rolled into the dugout.
Because Greg Garcia had well reached second base, he was permitted to score on Pollock’s throwing error, and Naylor took third. Machado’s RBI groundout wound up giving the Padres their decided lead.
The Dodgers’ offense relied on extra base hits from Justin Turner and Kiké Hernandez, but the story lied with missed opportunities. They twice loaded the bases against Eric Lauer within the first four innings. L.A. went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine.
Turner went into the series opener batting .313/.387/.500 in 44 career games in the Padres’ home ballpark. His first hit of the night saw him take a down-and-in curveball from Lauer and golf it out to left field for a solo home run that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
The homer was Turner’s eighth in August, which tied a career high for most in calendar month. He initially set that mark in June 2016, when Turner went on to hit a career-best 27 homers, which he is now three short of matching.
Turner later broke a scoreless tie by pulling a double just inside the line at third base. It hit off the wall in foul territory and rolled away from Wil Myers, which allowed Max Muncy to score the go-ahead run from first base. Turner tacked on a single to finish a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.
Hernandez provided the Dodgers with what appeared to be insurance by clubbing a home run to the second deck in the sixth inning. The homer was Hernandez’s 17th this season and first since returning from the 10-day injured list because of a left hand sprain.
Kirby Yates hit Muncy with a pitch to put the tying run on with two outs in the ninth, but he struck out Turner to convert the save.
