The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 5-3 Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium and led 1-0 in the best-of-five NLDS.
Here you will find everything you need to know about the game and the further development of the series.
Turner set the tone early on
Despite a five-day break after a first-round bye, it wasn’t long before the Dodgers were on the board. Trea Turner, the second hitter in the bottom of the first, started with a no-nonsense homer to the left.
The 419 footer was just the beginning. Will Smith would double and then score with a Max Muncy single. The Dodgers caught three hits and a walk in Padres starter Mike Clevinger’s first inning.
Clevinger would end up only going 2 2/3 innings. He gave up five runs on six hits and the biggest problem was that five of those hits were for extra bases. Trea Turner added a double to his homer. Smith doubled twice. Gavin Lux had an RBI double.
The Dodgers were in complete control.
Urías acts early, gets into trouble and is drawn
Dodgers starter Julio Urías, the NL ERA regular-season leader, dominated for four innings. He didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the third. In four scoreless innings, he faced just one over the minimum.
However, the Padres made a game out of it again in the fifth. Wil Myers started with a home run. Jake Cronenworth hit a single and Ha-seong Kim doubled before two productive outs cut the Dodgers’ lead to 5-3.
And even though Urías had only thrown 79 pitches, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts opted to go to his bullpen, with Evan Phillips taking the sixth.
The Padres made it interesting
After closing the gap from 5-0 to 5-3, the Padres got the first two runners on base in the sixth against Phillips. Juan Soto, who walks more than anyone in baseball, drew a step to start the inning. Manny Machado had an excuse hit when he knocked down a dribbler on the third baseline that Dodgers defenders rolled to a foul. It stayed fair and Machado had his infield hit.
There were now two runners with no outs in a two-run game. The Padres had lowered the Dodgers’ win expectancy from 95 percent to 65 percent. Josh Bell came onto the plate with a chance to do some major damage. Instead he struck.
Myers then hit the ball very hard (100.1 mph) but it was right at second baseman Gavin Lux. Lux corralled it and the Dodgers were able to turn a double play to end the threat.
It was one of those moments when the game seemed to be on the brink and it was headed in the Dodgers’ direction.
Martin closes for Dodgers
There was a lot of interest in how the Dodgers put together their bullpens in close games prior to this game. Craig Kimbrel was the closer for most of the season, but the Dodgers removed him from the role late in the season — when the division was essentially already over — and he’s not even on the NLDS roster.
Evan Phillips worked on the sixth. Alex Vesia took the seventh and then the first two outs of the eighth. Brusdal Graterol was called to get Manny Machado, and he did — although it was a deep flyout that wasn’t too far from a home run — and then Chris Martin got the last three outs for the save.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the Dodgers work like this in every tight game, but it’s possible Phillips and Vesia could serve as “fire extinguishers” while Graterol and Martin are there for late-inning work.
These are probably her four biggest helpers, but that much seems clear.
The Dodgers still own the Padres
The Padres have an opportunity to turn the tide and turn the narrative on its head in this series, but that’s just not a rivalry right now. The Dodgers won the regular season series 14-5 and outscored the Padres by 62 points, more than doubling them 109-47.
The Dodgers went 12-7 against the Padres last year. In 2020, it was 6-4 Dodgers in the regular season, but then 3-0 Dodgers in the playoffs. In 2019 it was 13-6 Dodgers. The Padres have not had a winning record against the Dodgers since 2010.
Next: Game 2 Wednesday
They will meet again for Game 2 on Wednesday at 8:37pm ET at Dodger Stadium.
Yu Darvish (16-8, 10-3) gets the ball for the Padres. He was brilliant in the Wild Card Series against the Mets, allowing just one six-hit run in seven innings of work. He faced the Dodgers four times that season and posted a 2.52 ERA and .92 WHIP, although that was only good enough for a split where each team won two of those games.
Clayton Kershaw (12-3, 2:28) will start for the Dodgers. As everyone knows by now, the narrative that Kershaw can’t score in the playoffs still holds. He’s 13-12 with a 4.19 ERA in his postseason career. He faced the Padres twice that year, posting a .75 ERA and .75 WHIP in 12 innings.