The San Diego Padres are playing great baseball and on Tuesday night, they showed it by overcoming a five-run deficit against the Los Angeles Dodgers, by tying the game 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth, then winning it in the 10th inning. With the victory, San Diego pulled within 5.5 games of first in the NL West and are tied for the last NL Wild Card spot.
Over the last 10 games, the Padres are 8-2, and on Tuesday they played gritty hard nosed baseball once again.
The Dodgers scored five runs in the first inning to take an early 5-0 lead, highlighted by Andy Pages two-run single, and Craig Biggio‘s two run home run. After that onslaught, Padres starter Matt Waldron retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced to keep the Dodgers from adding any additional runs to their lead.
In the bottom of the second, the Padres started to chip away at the deficit, by adding a run on Manny Machado‘s 15th home run on the season. Then in the bottom of the third, they pulled within two runs of tying the game, after Juriskson Porfar singled home a run and Jake Cronenworth‘s RBI double.
From that point on it was a pitchers duel, as both team offenses were shut down until the bottom of the ninth.
Machado then led off with his second home run of the game, pulling the Padres to within a run at 5-4. Then after Xander Bogaerts struck out, Jackson Merrill hit his 13th on the season to tie the game at 5-5.
Donovan Solano is the hero in the @Padres #walkoff win! pic.twitter.com/I4HEUczMLZ
— MLB (@MLB) July 31, 2024
The game was sent to extra innings and after the Dodgers failed to scored their inherited runner from second base, the Padres picked up their momentum where they left off in the ninth. With Ha-Seong Kim at second base, Kyle Higashioka walked, and then Luis Arraez laid down a perfect bunt moving both runners over a base. Next batter Profar was intentionally walked to load the bases and give the Dodgers a chance at a force play at home, but pinch hitter Donovan Solano spoiled that plan, by sneaking a single into left, scoring the winning run from third base, to complete the improbable comeback victory.
With the win, the Padres improve to 58-51 and with the loss the Dodgers fall to 63-45.
