LOS ANGELES — The sun will rise tomorrow.
Bet your bottom dollar the Dodgers will be happy to see him after a 10-day stretch of unseasonably cold weather at home and all-too-typical Midwestern spring soggy weather on the road.
The start of Sunday’s game was delayed 36 minutes by the latest round of rain moving through Southern California, a rarity at Dodger Stadium – rain delays in back-to-back games (Saturday’s start was delayed more than two hours).
However, the Dodgers’ pitching was even sloppier than the weather. Starter James Paxton and the bullpen walked 14 batters in the game, fueling a 6-3 victory for the San Diego Padres.
Four of the Padres’ six runs were scored by runners reaching base on balls.
While battling the elements over the past fortnight, the Dodgers went 4-5, losing the series to the Cubs in Chicago and the Padres at home.
The 14 walks by Dodgers pitchers were the most in a game since they walked 16 walks by the New York Mets on June 29, 1962. That matched a franchise record for the Padres who also walked tie 14 against the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 25, 1979 – in 19 innings.
Paxton had a career-high eight, but still managed to avoid danger with a pair of double-play groundouts and a replay-assisted fly catch. The Padres reached for just one run in the first five innings – a 418-foot solo home run by Manny Machado in the top of the fourth.
The Dodgers dominated this score in the bottom of the inning.
Freddie Freeman led off with a double to the right corner off Padres starter Yu Darvish. Will Smith drove him in with an RBI single and Max Muncy followed with a two-run homer to put the Dodgers ahead, 3-1.
That lead disappeared in the sixth inning without a ball leaving the infield.
Paxton walked the first two batters of the inning and was eventually pulled by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts after throwing 95 pitches, only 50 of which were strikes.
But Ryan Brasier hit three straight walks to open the inning and load the bases before bouncing Luis Campusano in the Padres’ third double play of the game.
A point made on the game, however. And the tying run scored when Mookie Betts smothered Jackson Merrill’s ground ball on the outfield grass behind second base, but couldn’t throw out Merrill at first.
The Dodgers bullpen helped the Padres take the lead in the seventh inning.
JP Feyereisen struck out only one of the five batters he faced, walking two and allowing a three-run double over the centerfield wall by Jurickson Profar.
Exhausted by the delayed arrivals of Brusdar Graterol (on the 60-day injured list with a shoulder issue) and Blake Treinen (recovering from a rib injury in the spring), the Dodgers bullpen has been a hot spot so far this season with a 4.69 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and 12 home runs allowed in 18 games.
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