LOS ANGELES — Do you rip a bandage off fast or peel it away slowly? After the past two nights, the San Diego Padres can tell you what both feel like.
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A two-pitch sequence in the seventh inning on Friday night turned the game on its head and gave the Dodgers their second consecutive soul-crushing comeback victory over the Padres, a 4-3 victory that is their fourth in the past seven days against the closest thing to opposition they have in the National League West.
Trailing 3-0 and dismissed for six innings by Padres starter Michael King, the Dodgers put the first two runners on base to start the seventh inning and chase King from the game. The left-handed flamethrower in their bullpen, Adrian Morejon, came in and got Kyle Tucker to bounce a potential double-play grounder to second baseman Jake Cronenworth.
But Cronenworth booted it, loading the bases with no outs. Teoscar Hernandez clubbed the next pitch from Morejon, a slider down but out over the plate, 419 feet to center field for a grand slam and a 4-3 lead.
Thursday night’s turnaround was water torture by comparison. The Dodgers came back from a 6-0 deficit after two innings to win that game, 12-7.
King outpitched Shohei Ohtani on Friday night, to get the Padres their lead.
The right-hander retired the first 11 Dodgers in order. Freddie Freeman’s ground ball found its way through the right side of the infield for a two-out single in the fourth inning.
Ohtani’s night didn’t start as smoothly. He threw six consecutive balls to start the game and walked the first two batters he faced. The Padres cashed one of those in on an RBI single by Gavin Sheets.
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Ohtani’s recent pitching starts have been marred by big innings – a three-run seventh in Pittsburgh, a four-run fifth against the Tampa Bay Rays and a three-run second in Minnesota.
He avoided that this time out but the Padres stung him with single runs in the first, fourth (a solo home run by Jackson Merrill) and sixth (three consecutive two-out hits, including an RBI double by Xander Bogaerts).
After posting a 0.74 ERA in his first 10 pitching starts this season, Ohtani has given up 14 runs (12 earned) in 24⅔ innings over his past four – a 4.38 ERA. There was no visible friction between the two Friday, but Dalton Rushing has been Ohtani’s catcher for all four of those starts.
Ohtani did strike out nine and avoid that multi-run damage, but he had to throw 110 pitches to get through six innings – the most he has thrown in a game since a 111-pitch, complete-game shutout for the Angels on July 27, 2023.
By contrast, King got through six innings on just 68 pitches, throwing more than 13 pitches in an inning just once in that time.
That came in the sixth when the Dodgers put two runners on with two outs. Freeman grounded out to end that inning. When they put two on to start the seventh, the stage was set for Hernandez’s heroics.
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More to come on this story.