Late Rally Leads To Walkoff As Padres Beat Dodgers

Jun 20, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres right fielder Will Venable (left) is congratulated by left fielder Seth Smith (12) after scoring the winning run on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Everth Cabrera (not pictured) to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

After rattling off two wins versus the Mariners to split the home and home series, the Padres opened up a weekend set with the Dodgers on Friday night. But trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth, the Padres’ chances at a third straight win looked bleak.

But some late magic, and timely hitting led the Pads to a 6-5 walk-off victory over Los Angeles, giving San Diego a three-game winning streak.

Down to their final three outs and needing two runs, Alexi Amarista singled on a line drive to center field. Carlos Quentin, who was pinch-hitting for Jace Peterson, then whacked a ball to left field for a double, scoring the speedy Amarista from first. After replacing Quentin at second with ace pitcher Andrew Cashner, Will Venable fouled off three pitches before pouncing on a hard cutter, slapping a ball to the gap in left-center field that easily scored Cashner and gave Venable a double. And just like that, the Padres had tied the game, all without recording an out. Pinch-hitter Rene Rivera recorded that first out, but it was a productive one as Rivera’s fantastic bunt pulled the third baseman away from the bag, allowing Venable to move over to third. Everth Cabrera came up with a chance to win the game, and that’s exactly what he did, as he skied a ball to right field for the walk-off sacrifice fly to hand the Padres the 6-5 victory.

Things didn’t start as well as they ended for San Diego. The first batter that Ian Kennedy faced, Dee Gordon, drilled a triple to right field, then scored on a throwing error from Peterson. Matt Kemp added a single on a ground ball that scored former Padre Adrian Gonzalez, as the Dodgers took an early 2-0 lead.

A Seth Smith homer in the bottom of the first off of Dan Haren closed the gap to 2-1, but in the top of the fifth, the Dodgers broke open the game. Two runs scored on a Yasiel Puig single, and Puig came around to score on a Gonzalez sac fly as LA took a seemingly commanding 5-1 lead.

Before the final comeback in the ninth, the Padres continued to chip away at the deficit. In his first Major League at-bat, Jake Goebbert roped a single on a line drive to right field that scored Amarista, to cut the lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth. Smith, who already homered in the first inning. crushed another ball off of Haren to right field for his second jack of the night. Smith’s second bomb cut the lead to 5-3, setting up the exciting finish.

The Padres and Dodgers go at it again on Saturday, as Tyson Ross will take on Josh Beckett at Petco at 7:10 pm.

Keep The Faith.