After eight grueling games the San Diego Padres have ended their losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the final game of their four-game series at Dodger Stadium. Not only was it the end of the losing streak, but it was also the end of the San Diego road trip that saw them get swept by the Chicago Cubs in three games and drop the first three games to Los Angeles.
JP Sears was the unlikeliest of heroes for the Padres, making his third start since being called up from Triple-A El Paso. The left-hander completed five scoreless innings and allowed just one hit with two walks and five strikeouts. Sears actually had a no-hitter into the fifth inning but allowed a two-out single to Miguel Rojas before finishing the inning with a strikeout of Alex Freeland. Sears recorded three of his five strikeouts in his final inning of work.
San Diego gave Sears a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning after a Manny Machado walk and a Gavin Sheets single. Jackson Marrill came to the plate with runners at first and second and two outs in the inning. He then hit a sharp ground ball through the right side of the infield which allowed Machado to score from second base to give the Padres the lead. San Diego added to its total in the seventh when Sung-Mun Song walked and stole second before Luis Campusano singled to open the inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. beat out an infield single and Song came into score to give the Padres a 2-0 lead. Miguel Andjuar followed Tatis with a flyball out, which brought Machado to the plate with two on and one out. The third baseman connected on a ball that went out over the center field wall to push the San Diego lead to 5-0.
Los Angeles responded in the bottom of the seventh inning after a leadoff walk to Teoscar Hernandez. Alex Call struck out for the first out of the inning and Kyle Tucker singled to right field off new reliever Adrian Morejon. Freeland followed with a single that allowed Hernandez to score to get the Dodgers on the board, 5-1. After a strikeout of Tommy Edman, Morejon allowed a single to Shohei Ohtani, and the Padres lead was cut to 5-2. Morejon ended the threat and the inning with a three-pitch strikeout of Andy Pages.
San Diego mounted another scoring threat in the top of the ninth with two on and one out but a groundout from Sheets and a flyout from Ty France left the runners at second and third and gave Mason Miller an opportunity to come in for the save in the bottom of the ninth. The right-hander made quick work of his inning and struck out Tucker before getting Freeland and Dalton Rushing to flyout.
Jake Peavy said it best on the NBC broadcast, for the Padres to get back into the playoff picture their stars have to star and that is what Tatis and Machado did in the final game against the Dodgers. Tatis finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, while Machado finished 1-for-2 with three walks, three RBI and two runs scored. Of course, the biggest contribution was the three-run home run from Machado in the seventh which proved to be a game winning home run.
San Diego returns to Petco Park to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks today at 6:40 p.m.
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