While Friday night was jam packed with sports on television like the NBA Playoffs, there was an exciting baseball game that unfortunately ended in a loss for the Los Angeles Dodgers as they fell to the San Diego Padres, 2-1. How they lost was brutal as it came at the hands of a walk-off hit that sent the winning run home at the bottom of the ninth as Dodgers star Freddie Freeman talks about the contest and the excellence of Padres pitcher Michael King.
It was pretty much a slog for the Los Angeles offense as they only mustered up one run the whole game which came in the eighth inning when Freeman got the RBI hit. King was dynamite for San Diego as he went seven inning only allowing two hits, walking three batters, and striking out 11 as Freeman said that while it is hard to compliment an opposing pitcher, “you have to give it to him” according to Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register.
“Some days as a position player, you don’t want to give any credit to a pitcher but tonight you have to give it to him,” Freeman said of King. “He had sinkers running back on the inside part, he had the four-seamer in there too and he was throwing front-door changeups and playing that off inside. Just a well-pitched ballgame on both sides.”
Freeman gives credit to King, but also Dodgers' Tyler Glasnow
On the other side, the starting pitcher for the Dodgers was Tyler Glasnow who is in the midst of his first season with the club as he was originally on the Tampa Bay Rays for the last six seasons. While Freeman admitted that they “didn't have any answers” for King, he made sure to say that Glasnow was “great” as well.
“I mean, at some point you just want him to get out of the game,” Freeman said. “We didn’t have any answers for him tonight. He was just really good. Seemed like he was hitting every spot that he needed to and you can see what good pitching does to a good lineup, you can shut it down. But Tyler was great, too.”
In Friday's start, Glasnow threw out 10 batters, allowed one hit and earned run along with walking two hitters in an almost exceptional effort as King. According to OptaStats as provided by Plunkett, “Friday’s game was the first time in the modern era (since 1901) both starting pitchers went at least seven innings while striking out 10 or more batters and allowing two hits or fewer.”
Dave Roberts talks Dodgers' offensive struggles
The Dodgers were overwhelmed by King which was a shocking sight since the team had won the previous seven straight and even beyond that, were 14-2 in the last 16 heading into Friday. The Padres pitcher even received props from Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts who said it looked like his players “were starting to wonder what was a strike.”
“I think early on our guys were starting to wonder what was a strike, what wasn’t,” Roberts said. “I think it’s a credit to Michael because the ball was moving so much, I think both ways – whether you’re talking about the buffer zone or whatever – I think both teams got it. Overall … that wasn’t the reason Michael King was good tonight. It really wasn’t.”
Even though Glasnow was great in the start Friday, it wasn't good enough as he did let go of the game's only home run which was a fastball up in the zone hit to the stands by Padres catcher Luis Campusano. However, the 30-year old said it was a “pretty good pitch,” but it was met with a “good swing.”
“That was a pretty good pitch,” Glasnow said via The Orange County Registry. “Fastball up, 97 (mph) with good carry. I just tip my cap. It was a good swing.”
Roberts goes into pitching change in the ninth for Los Angeles
Which led to the bottom of the ninth where after Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen was great in the eighth inning, Roberts went with Michael Grove to take the game into extra innings. Los Angeles pretty much had their hands tied as they had crucial relievers on the injured list like Joe Kelly, Evan Phillips, and Brusdar Graterol, but Roberts said he hates “trying to use that as an excuse.”
“It’s tough,” Roberts said. “I hate trying to use that as an excuse. But when you have three leverage guys not participating you’re trying to give guys opportunities. I thought Blake was great today and I felt good where Michael was at with that part of the lineup, bleeding into the top. It just didn’t work out.”
There was a possibility of walking Arraez
Grove would let go off a lead-off double in the ninth and then strike out the next batter which led to Luis Arraez at the plate, who is playing his seventh game with the Padres after being traded from the Miami Marlins. There was a decision to be made here if you walk Arraez since he's one of the best players in the majors at getting hits as he won the batting title the year prior with Miami, but they pitched to him and lost on an RBI single as Roberts talks about the situation.
“You have to kind of think about Arraez versus [Fernando] Tatis and [Jake] Cronenworth,” Roberts said of the next two hitters in the Padres’ lineup. “You’ve got to make a decision. For me, I just felt that, if we could pitch Arraez carefully, we get a chance to get to Tatis. I wasn’t going to concede Arraez to get to Tatis and bring [up] Cronenworth. Both those guys were swinging the bats really well and are really good hitters. You kind of pick your poison right there. Just didn’t work out.”
Roberts cites a playoff atmosphere in loss to San Diego
All in all, it was a stellar game for San Diego and a frustrating one for Los Angeles as a Glasnow start was wasted and held back by a dominating performance from King. While this will end up being a random regular season game in May, this felt like a “playoff atmosphere” for Roberts as he also said the Dodgers “did a great job tonight.”
“I don’t talk about playoff atmosphere too often in the regular season, but today, it felt like that,” Roberts said. “It was a packed house. I think Michael King threw his best game certainly of the year, I can’t imagine him throwing a better game ever, I mean, really. His velocity was up. He was on the corners all game. Everything was working tonight. We just really didn’t have an answer. Really didn’t take many good swings. He just dominated.
“And our guy did a great job tonight too,” Roberts continued. “Tyler is on some type of run right now and we lost a game in the ninth. But overall a really good ballgame.”
The Dodgers now fall to 26-14 on the season, but are still No. 1 in the NL West as the Padres are second at 21-20 as they look to rack up more wins ands make it a competitive division race. The series between the two teams will have two more games as the next Saturday night at Petco Park.
