The San Diego Padres trailed the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 and had runners at second and third with one out in the top of the eighth inning. Alex Vesia was called on to pitch for the Dodgers and the Padres countered with Jose Iglesias pinch-hitting for Jake Cronenworth. Iglesias was able to put the ball in-play with an RBI-groundout to shortstop that allowed Xander Bogaerts to score to tie the game 4-4.
The run scored by Bogaerts was critical in allowing the Padres to claw back into the game after Yu
Darvish allowed four first inning runs on the strength of two home runs by Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages.
San Diego brought in closer Robert Suarez to handle the bottom of the eighth inning and he allowed a leadoff solo home run to Mookie Betts that gave Los Angeles a 5-4 lead en route to a win and a series sweep at Dodger Stadium, Sunday.
Darvish, like Dylan Cease the day before, struggled in the first inning of his outing and watched the Dodgers take a 4-0 lead.
Darvish opened the bottom of the first allowing a single to Shohei Ohtani and a walk to Betts. He then got Will Smith to line out to right field, before Freeman delivered a three-run home run to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.
Darvish got Teoscar Hernandez to ground out for the second out of the inning, but allowed the second home run of the frame when Pages hit a solo homer to make the score, 4-0.
Padres pitching shut down the Dodgers offense until the Betts home run in the eighth and the offense chipped away at the lead, one run at a time, over the remainder of the game.
Jake Cronenworth started the top of the third inning with a leadoff walk. He advanced to third on a line drive single to right-center field by Freddy Fermin. The ball bounced off the wall and Fermin was thrown out at second base by Pages. Fernando Tatis Jr. lined a double into right-center field that scored Cronenworth to make the score, 4-1.
Ramon Laureano cut the San Diego deficit to two runs in the top of the fifth inning with an opposite field solo home run that just cleared the wall in right to make the score, 4-2.
Gavin Sheets, who came into the game in the bottom of the fourth inning when Jackson Merrill came out of the game, started the top of the sixth inning with a double to left field. He scored two batters later when Ryan O’Hearn doubled to right field to make the score, 4-3.
Merrill was pulled from the lineup and Laureano moved to center, while Sheets took over in left field in the fourth. Padres Manager Mike Shildt said after the game that Merrill was taken out of the game because of a sore ankle.
For the series, San Diego was outscored by Los Angeles 14-6. The Padres outhit the Dodgers 20-15, but went 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position and left 19 runners on base.
San Diego returns to Petco to host the San Francisco Giants, Monday at 6:40 p.m.
