LOS ANGELES — Assertion made, loud and clear. It has been the Dodgers’ division for eight straight seasons. The Padres are coming for it.
The 2 Nationwide League West heavyweights continued their unimaginable season collection with yet one more immediate traditional on Sunday evening — this one an 11-inning thriller during which the Padres rallied from a six-run deficit for a wild Eight-7 victory at Dodger Stadium.
It was the seventh sport between the Padres and Dodgers inside the previous 10 days, all seven of them crammed with October-like drama in April. And whereas L.A.’s early NL West lead stays intact, it’s the Padres who now maintain the slight edge within the season collection, 4 video games to 3.
“They actually felt like playoff video games,” mentioned Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer, whose 11th-inning sacrifice fly proved decisive. “Undoubtedly a superb preview of what ought to are available October. However there’s nonetheless a variety of work for each groups. Hopefully we get to satisfy these guys once more on that stage.”
The Dodgers, in fact, swept the Padres within the NL Division Sequence final yr, en path to a World Sequence title. The Padres, in the meantime, spent the offseason doing their greatest to erase that hole. They reloaded their pitching workers by buying and selling for Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove. They added to their bullpen. They locked up Fernando Tatis Jr. for 14 seasons.
The Padres and Dodgers have solely performed seven instances this season, and it’s nonetheless April. But it surely certain appears to be like like that hole is not less than narrowing.
“We’re going to combat these guys until the top,” Hosmer mentioned. “We respect what they’ve achieved. We respect who they’re. However we’re actually not going to again down from them. We’re going to offer them our greatest shot each single time. That’s the assertion we made this collection.”
On Sunday, particularly. Musgrove struggled early, and after Nick Ramirez allowed 5 runs within the sixth, the Padres trailed, 7-1, and their win chance dipped to 1 %. No staff in baseball this season had rallied from a six-run deficit.
“Simply string a pair hits collectively,” mentioned Hosmer. “See what occurs.”
Positive sufficient, Hosmer led off the seventh with a single, and one of the vital exceptional Padres comebacks in latest reminiscence was underway. San Diego scored two runs apiece within the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, with Manny Machado’s RBI single plating Tatis to finish the comeback and ship the sport to extras. Then, Tatis would rating the successful run within the 11th on Hosmer’s sacrifice fly.
“What meant essentially the most was watching a gaggle of males not give in, not surrender, maintain going, work collectively and chip away,” mentioned Padres supervisor Jayce Tingler.
Tingler isn’t one for pregame speeches. However he referred to as his gamers collectively on Sunday morning to remind them of the work they’d put in throughout their stretch of 17 video games in 17 days. The Padres have been drained, certain. However Tingler requested for yet another day of intense focus and drive earlier than Monday’s off-day. His gamers responded.
Dodgers starter Dustin Could stifled the Padres for six innings, permitting solely a solo house run to the red-hot Tatis. It was his fifth in three video games, making him the primary customer in Dodger Stadium historical past to hit 5 homers in a three-game span. Along with his seventh house run of the season, Tatis — who spent 10 days on the injured record with a partially separated left shoulder — moved right into a tie for first place on the MLB leaderboard.
“I’ve mentioned it as soon as, I’ll say it once more,” Hosmer mentioned. “I really consider he’s the most effective expertise in baseball. He’s the face of baseball. He confirmed why.”
Tatis’ theatrics are just one storyline from the game’s most charming rivalry of 2021. It’s been a exceptional season collection, with distinctive drama each single evening. To recap:
• Recreation 1 was a 12-inning thriller that noticed the benches clear. Corey Seager hit a go-ahead homer within the 12th, Jake Cronenworth pitched and David Value hit an extra-innings sacrifice fly to Musgrove.
• Recreation four was selected a remarkable double play began by Cronenworth and turned by Tatis the eighth inning.
• Recreation 6 introduced some hijinks between Tatis and Trevor Bauer, after Tatis went deep twice off the reigning NL Cy Younger Award winner, then mimicked his celebrations.
“Each sport we’ve performed to this point has been a knock-down, dragged-out battle,” Tingler mentioned.
Now, the rivalry goes on hiatus for a month and a half. The 2 golf equipment received’t play once more till June. Then they’ll play three extra in August, earlier than six in September.
And, no, it wouldn’t shock anybody in the event that they tacked on a number of extra in October, too.