Late Rally Falls Short As Padres Drop Game To Dodgers

Jun 21, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Tyson Ross (38) pitches during the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

The Padres were riding a three-game winning steak coming into Saturday night’s tilt with the Dodgers, but a lack of run support ruined a solid start from Tyson Ross in a 4-2 loss. San Diego trailed the whole night, with a short two-run rally in the eighth producing their only impact on the scoreboard.

Facing off against Ross, the Dodgers were the first to get on the board. In the top of the third inning, Dee Gordon singled on a sharp ground ball through the middle of the infield that scored Drew Butera. Gordon worked his way around to third and came home on a Hanley Ramirez sacrifice fly as the Dodgers took a 2-0 lead.

Ramirez’s lethal bat struck again in the fifth inning. With Justin Turner and Gordon on base, Ramirez singled on a line drive to left field that scored Turner.

The Padres had their chances but couldn’t string consecutive hits together. San Diego had one base runner on, with less than two outs, three times against Beckett, but couldn’t push any across as Beckett shut the Pads out over seven innings, striking out eight.

Los Angeles added to their lead in the top of the eighth, as Adrian Gonzalez poked a single to left field to score Gordon.

Down 4-0 in the bottom of the eighth, the Padres gave a valiant effort at a comeback. Cameron Maybin led off with a stand-up triple, and came around to score on Tommy Medica‘s two-out single to right field. Seth Smith, who had walked earlier in the inning, scored on a Rene Rivera single. With men on the corners and a chance to tie or take the lead, rookie Jake Goebbert game to the plate. He had singled in his first two Major League at-bats, and connected on a sinker. Goebbert roped a ball up the gut, but Gordon made a fantastic sliding play to retire the side.

After a short top of the ninth, San Diego came to bat in the bottom of the ninth needing two runs to stay alive. Last night, they overcame a two-run deficit in the ninth and scored a third to hand Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen a loss. Facing off against Jansen again, things didn’t go as planned for the Padres. A one-out single from Yasmani Grandal gave San Diego a glimmer of hope, but Jansen induced a lazy fly ball from Carlos Quentin and got Chris Denorfia to chase a ball on the outside of the plate, locking up the victory for the Padres.

Sunday afternoon the Padres and Dodgers will get together for the rubber match of this series, as starting pitchers Eric Stults and Hyun-Jin Ryu square off.