SAN DIEGO -- Mason Miller’s first career error proved to be a costly one, as the Dodgers rallied for a 5-4 victory on Tuesday night at Petco Park.
A day after the Padres leapfrogged their rivals into the top spot in the National League West, L.A. returned the favor. The rubber match is set for Wednesday night.
Here’s some analysis from Petco Park:
A costly error
For the second consecutive night, the Padres called on Miller with the game hanging in the balance in the ninth -- this time in a tie game. He walked Max Muncy with one out -- on a 3-2 slider initially called a strike but overturned on Muncy’s challenge.
The Dodgers pinch-ran with Alex Call, who took two steps toward second base and found himself in no-man’s land. Miller stepped off the rubber. The Padres were, essentially, presented with a free out.
They threw it away.
Miller’s throw to Ty France went wide – off France’s glove and up the right-field line. Rather than the second out of the inning, Call went from first to third on the play. He scored a batter later on Andy Pages’ sacrifice fly.
“I just let it speed up on me a little bit and yanked it,” Miller said. “I probably threw it a little harder than I should've, too. Obviously I want it back. But it is what it is. Good plate appearance from Pages, too. Good, long at-bat, and he just barely got it done.”
Could France have snared the throw?
“I mean, it hit off my glove,” he said. “Maybe it cut a little bit. But I’ve got to catch that.”
Nonetheless, it was certainly off-target, and Miller was charged with the error -- a brutal time for his first career error, which, ultimately, saddled him with his first loss as a Padre.
Morejon delivers when the Padres need him
The Padres and Dodgers play (at least) 11 more times this season. You’ve got to figure Adrian Morejon is going to face the lane of L.A. hitters that features Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Kyle Tucker in quite a few of those games.
Round 1 went to Morejon.
After Shohei Ohtani opened the frame by sneaking a double through the right side, Morejon retired Mookie Betts, Freeman and Kyle Tucker in order. The biggest out was Freeman, who had already homered twice and came to the dish with one out and the go-ahead run on third base.
After falling behind 3-1, Morejon pumped two fastballs by Freeman, both at 100 mph. Ohtani stayed put at third, and Tucker promptly bounced one back to Morejon, ending the frame.
“Some great hitters, some great pitches that he made,” manager Craig Stammen said. “It’s just a testament to how valuable he is to our bullpen, to our team. We can pitch him against anybody and feel really good about it.”
An encouraging start from Canning
It began ominously enough. Griffin Canning allowed a leadoff double to Ohtani, then a two-run homer to Freeman in the top of the first inning.
But from there? Well, this looked like the version of Griffin Canning the Padres were hoping for when they signed him. He struck out five and walked one across five innings. He allowed only one further run. (And that only scored after tough-luck Teoscar Hernández double off the third-base bag, followed by a pair of weak grounders, the latter with the infield back.)
Canning used his offspeed pitches effectively and probably could’ve kept going -- he’d thrown only 72 pitches. But with Freeman due up, Stammen went to his ’pen. (A perfectly reasonable move, which promptly backfired when Freeman took Jeremiah Estrada deep as well.)
Canning’s season is still in its early stages. This was only his fourth start. But his last two were poor, and he was eyeing down one of the toughest lineups in baseball on Tuesday night. This was an impressive bounceback.
“Coming off the last outing, I felt like I wanted to attack and throw strikes,” Canning said. “I didn’t necessarily throw a bunch of first-pitch strikes, but I got some quick outs. Overall, other than that pitch to Freddie -- that’s probably the only one I really wish I could take back.”
Laureano nearly breaks through
With two men aboard and the red-hot Gavin Sheets due up in the bottom of the seventh, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts went to left-hander Tanner Scott, which left Stammen with a tricky decision to make in a tie game.
Sheets is the reigning NL Player of the Week and one of the hottest hitters in baseball. Ramón Laureano, meanwhile, has been ice cold at the plate after a strong start. But the matchup called for Laureano. And Stammen played it.
Sure enough, Laureano turned in an excellent at-bat against Scott, then got a 2-2 slider over the plate. He launched it to the warning track in left … where it was run down by Hernández.
“Good swing, good at-bat,” Stammen said. “Kind of what we expected in that matchup. … I know Sheets is National League Player of the Week this week, one of our hottest hitters. Very tough decision on my end to do that.
“Went with Laureano. Figured that was a chance to put a run on the board and then finish it with our bullpen. It just didn’t quite work out that way.”