Padres 3 Up, 3 Down: Team can hang with Dodgers

After taking another series from Arizona at Petco, the Padres went to Dodgers Stadium, splitting the four-game series and proved they are legit.

The goal heading into Los Angeles was to, at the very least, split the series with the rival Dodgers. The Padres last matchup with LA didn’t go too well after taking the first game, so when the Friars took game one, I think everyone was hesitant to break out the champagne. But after a convincing 6-2 victory in game two, the remainder of the series was just gravy.

Game three featured a particularly interesting pitching matchup in that Zach Davies was on the bump for the Padres. In his career, he has a 2.08 ERA in seven starts against LA, which was easily the best mark against any opponents with as many starts against. On the other side, Tony Gonsolin was making his second spot start, having tossed four innings in his MLB debut. He went just under five innings, but the Padres couldn’t touch him.

And the finale gave us a glimpse of Jorge Mateo, who, after being acquired, contracted COVID-19 and then disappeared for a while. The Padres jumped out to a 2-0 lead on back-to-back bombs from Pham and Hosmer, and the Dodgers quickly responded with a two-run shot by Corey Seager. The Dodgers hit, what seemed like, every one of Chris Paddack’s fastballs. Paddack generally just looked “off” on Thursday, not being to locate his pitches and lasted only three innings.

I’m not ready to press the panic button on Paddack quite yet. With Dinelson Lamet flourishing, and MacKenzie Gore and Luis Patino coming to the rotation soon, having Paddack as your fourth starter is a great problem to have.

Let’s look at a few players who performed well and players who have room for improvement.