Padres complete first sweep of Dodgers since 2013
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The Padres homered a lot and then walked away with their first series sweep of the Dodgers in more than eight years.
A bases-loaded walk by Trent Grisham in the eighth inning was the deciding run in a 5-3 victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday, sending most in the crowd of 43,961 off into the downtown night exulting at a new kind of Padres team.
The Padres broke a 3-3 tie by scoring twice in the eighth inning with a little help from two plays by the Dodgers that weren’t errors but also weren’t great.
Jake Cronenworth led off the eighth inning with a line drive double off the glove of right fielder Matt Beaty, who had sprinted back and leaped at the last moment. Manny Machado followed by sending a slow roller toward third base that Justin Turner fielded and double-clutched as he looked back at Cronenworth before throwing late to first base.
Eric Hosmer moved the runners up with a bunt. The Dodgers walked Wil Myers intentionally to bring up Grisham with the bases loaded.
He watched a 3-2 sinker sail up and in before walking to first base as Cronenworth jogged home. Victor Caratini followed by driving in Machado on a fly ball to right field.
Those followed three solo homers hit by the Padres off Dodgers starter Trevor Bauer. Of the 14 runs the Padres scored in the series, 11 came via homer.
Caratini had given the Padres a 3-2 lead by sending the second pitch of the seventh inning over the wall in right field, sparking a massive cheer from most of the second-largest midweek crowd to ever watch a Padres game at Petco Park that wasn’t on opening day.
It was the third straight sellout and the most people to watch a non-weekend, non-opening day game at Petco Park since the finale of the park’s inaugural 2004 season. Wednesday was the largest showing by those in Dodger blue in the series, but the crowd was still probably three-quarters faithful to the home team.
In the eighth inning, the Dodgers came back from their second deficit, scoring against Emilio Pagán on a two-out double by Max Muncy and RBI single by Justin Turner that tied the game 3-3.
Mark Melancon worked the ninth for his second save in two nights and his major league-leading 23rd save of the season. There were runners at first and second with one out when Albert Pujols hit a line drive that Machado backhanded at third and threw to second to double up Will Smith and end the game.
In pursuit of their first series sweep against the Dodgers since April 15-17, 2013, the Padres continued their habit of scoring early in games.
For the third time in the series, the Padres took a first-inning lead. This time, it was two-out solo home runs by Cronenworth and Machado that put them up 2-0.
Cronenworth’s two-run shot off Clayton Kershaw had given them a 2-0 lead Tuesday, and an RBI double by Cronenworth and Machado’s three-run homer staked them to a 4-0 lead against Julio Urias on Monday.
Bauer retired the Padres in order in the second, issued a two-out walk in the third and got the first two batters in the fourth before having to navigate a bit of trouble.
Myers drew a two-out walk in the fourth inning and would have scored on Grisham’s deep drive to center field. But the ball bounced over the fence, requiring Myers to stop at third base. The Dodgers walked Caratini to bring up pitcher Joe Musgrove, who struck out.
Bauer was pulled with no outs in the seventh after walking Profar immediately after Caratini’s homer.
Musgrove began the night in similar fashion to the previous two Padres starters and finished having thrown his third straight quality start, allowing two runs in six innings.
Following the one run allowed by Yu Darvish in six innings Monday and Blake Snell’s five scoreless innings Tuesday, Musgrove worked three hitless innings at the start Wednesday before things unwound a bit as he faced the Dodgers lineup a second time through.
Muncy led off the fourth inning with a double to left-center field and moved to third on Turner’s fly ball to deep right field. Cody Bellinger walked before Will Smith advanced both runners with a single that made it 2-1.
Beaty followed with a grounder to first base that Hosmer fielded and threw to Fernando Tatis Jr. covering second. Tatis’ return throw to first trying to complete what would have been an inning-ending double play was almost certainly not going to beat Beaty anyway, but when it skipped wildly past a covering Musgrove it allowed Bellinger to score and Beaty to get to second.
It was the Padres’ second error in 10 games. While it was Tatis’ major league-leading 16th error, it was his first in 18 games.
Musgrove got Gavin Lux on a hard grounder back to the mound to end the inning.
The Dodgers arrived in San Diego with the National League’s second highest OPS and scoring the league’s most runs per game (5.25).
The Padres won 6-2 on Monday and 3-2 on Tuesday.
Since the Padres’ sweep in 2013, the Dodgers had won 94 of the teams’ 140 meetings heading into this season.
The Padres on Tuesday had secured their second series win of the season against the Dodgers, marking the first time since 2016 they had won multiple series against the team that has won the past eight National League West titles.
The Dodgers won the first two games they played at Petco Park in April, but the Padres had won six of the seven since heading into Wednesday.
The Padres have not won a season series against the Dodgers since 2010.
This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.