Saturday, February 15, 2025

This Week in Dodger Baseball

Around the Bases

San Diego Pays The Price In Extras To Dodgers

The first game of the series between the Dodgers and Padres had everything and felt like the world was watching.

Wow, where do we even begin with this game? Well, it started with a pitching matchup of Walker Buehler, who went six innings while giving up only two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts, and Ryan Weathers, who went 3.2 innings while giving up no runs with three strikeouts. Offensively, the Dodgers looked relatively weak, going 6 for 20 with runners in scoring positions as the runs early on just came from the long ball and throwing errors from the Padres.

Luke Raley launched his first career home run over the right-center field fence, tying what eventually became a very long game. The home run was followed with a throwing error by Fernando Tatis Jr., allowing two runs to score, giving the Dodgers the lead in the top of the 6th. Afterward, a wild pitch thrown by Padres pitcher Keone Kela would score the last run of the inning. However, all of this felt small and insignificant compared to the game as a whole, as Padres fans let the Dodgers know that they’re here to stay.

Felt Like A Must Win

The biggest thing that was noticed by many was the game’s atmosphere, as the stadium was loud, and there was no doubt tension in the air as these two teams went at it. The crowd was roaring, the players had such grit and determination on every play, and that tension kept growing as the game got later and later. After the game, Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts, spoke with the media saying, “It felt like a rivalry tonight.”

It certainly felt like it with the game going into extra innings and both teams on edge as in the bottom of the 10th, Dodgers pitcher Dennis Santana had pitched them out of a jam. But not before hitting Padres batter Jorge Mateo, who believed it was intentional. Both benches and bullpens cleared as tempers were flaring in an extra-innings brawl between the two teams. There was no ill will towards Mateo in an extra-innings game in which the Dodgers were clearly showing that they wanted to win this one as the ball seemed to get away from Santana with such movement and life to his pitches.

Padres Wave White Flag In 12th Inning

After a scoreless 10th and 11th, the 12th inning was all Dodgers. It started with a two-run blast from Corey Seager as that seemed to be just enough to win the late game, but the Dodgers offense wasn’t done with Zack McKinstry hitting an RBI single and Luke Raley hitting one as well. That’s when the Padres decided that they had it with the game and got weird.

The Padres ended up putting position player Jake Cronenworth into pitch with starter Joe Musgrove out in left field following the Dodgers onslaught of runs already across the board. Yes, you read that right. The Padres had a position player pitching and a pitcher in the outfield, which had everyone scratching their heads. The Padres were able to get out of the inning, but not before the Dodgers put five runs on the board.

The Price Is Right

After Dave Roberts used up most of his bullpen, he went to David Price for the 11th and 12th innings as it seemed he would go for as long as the team needed. He pitched two fantastic innings in relief with four strikeouts, shutting the door on an eventful first game of the series. Earlier in the season, it was known that David Price was ready for whatever role the Dodgers needed him in, and he’s proven to be effective in the bullpen so far with these types of dominant performances.

Looking Ahead

After this wild first game, it’s hard to imagine what the rest of the series will look like as these teams square off another 18 times for the rest of the season. The Dodgers will be sending Clayton Kershaw to the mound in the second game of this series as he looked liked vintage Kershaw against the Nationals in his last game, going six innings while giving up no runs with six strikeouts. The Padres will counter with Yu Darvish, who was sharp in his previous start against the Pirates in which he went seven innings, giving up just one run with six strikeouts. We’ll see if we’re in store for another firework-filled night and if tempers carried over from Friday’s late-inning affair as game time is at 5:40 pm PST.

Jacob Cisneros is a writer for Dodgers-LowDown. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram @_JacobCisneros. 

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