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Padres News: Dodgers Spoil Upton’s 2-HR, 5-RBI Night

By Mark "Wisco" Whelan

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The San Diego Padres took on the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park Saturday night. Or was that Coors Field? The way the ball was flying out of the park, it was hard to tell.

After the top of the first, it was 3-0. At the end of the first, 3-3. A half inning later, it was 6-3.

For a while there, it looked like they’d go into extra innings tied at 27.

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That didn’t happen. But on a cold, rainy night in San Diego, the kind of night that has produced a slew of 1-0 games over the years, the Dodgers outslugged the Padres 11-8  in a contest that featured seven home runs and 21 hits.

Justin Upton hit two home runs and drove in five runs for the Padres in the loss.

Los Angeles has now won the first two games of the three-game set. The first place Dodgers raised their record to 11-6, while the third-place Padres fell two games off the pace at 10-9.

Jimmy Rollins got the hitting party started with a leadoff single in the first off Padres’ starter Ian Kennedy, making his first start after coming off the DL with a hamstring strain. Andre Ethier, perhaps the best hitter in baseball who doesn’t start, drove Kennedy’s eighth pitch into the right-field stands for a 2-0 lead. And Adrian Gonzalez began his productive evening with a double. A hitter or two later, only a great tag at the plate by Derek Norris on a sliding Yasmani Grandal after a Carl Crawford double kept the Dodgers from putting up a four-spot in the first.

The new and improved Padres offense wasted no time in bailing out Kennedy. Wil Myers drove Brandon McCarthy‘s third pitch over the center field wall to cut the deficit to 3-1. Matt Kemp followed with a single and a stolen base, and then Upton started off his fine evening with a 2-run shot to right, knotting the score at 3-3.

Kennedy continued to struggle in the second, hitting Joc Pederson with a pitch on an 0-2 count and walking Ethier before Gonzalez stepped to the plate again with two outs. Gonzalez deposited the baseball in the short porch in right, putting the Dodgers back up by three.

Gonzalez finished the night with three runs scored and three RBI.

Kennedy and McCarthy then settled down for a few innings, keeping the score at 6-3 until the fifth, when Ethier doubled and Howie Kendrick took his turn going deep, finally knocking Kennedy out of the game. His final line, 4.1 innings, 8 hits, 8 runs, 8 earned runs, one walk, two Ks, and three HR allowed.

Unfortunately, Kennedy’s replacement didn’t stop the bleeding. Lefty Chris Rearick walked Grandal and then gave up the Dodgers’ fourth home run to Juan Uribe. 10-3 Dodgers in the middle of the fifth.

At that point, the folks on Twitter were calling for manager Bud Black‘s head for leaving in Kennedy for so long, and screaming for Kennedy to be replaced by Odrisamer Despaigne in the rotation.

Settle down, people. It’s one game. And it’s only the fifth inning.

Despaigne did get a chance to pitch, hurling a perfect sixth inning, dropping his team-leading ERA to 1.37.

San Diego’s offense didn’t just sit quietly by while the pitching was taking a beating, though, picking up four runs in the sixth. Three of those runs came on Upton’s second home run of the evening. Upton now has a team-leading five homers to go with his 13 RBI and .347 batting average.

The Padres comeback fell short, though. The Dodgers picked up an insurance run in the eighth on Ethier’s third hit and third RBI of the night.

San Diego finished the scoring in the ninth on an Alexi Amarista walk and a pair of wild pitches.

Tomorrow’s game will feature former Padre Joe Wieland pitching for the Dodgers against Brandon Morrow of the Padres. Game time 1:10. While it’s still early in the season, the Padres are sorely in need of a win on Sunday. They’ve dropped four of five to the Dodgers already this year, and they need to prove that they can compete with their rivals from the north.

Keep the faith.

Next: MLB Uniform Final Rankings

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