3 Padres takeaways from Dodgers series
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SAN DIEGO -- Petco Park’s most anticipated series in years lived up to the hype.
The Padres and Dodgers played three thrilling games this weekend -- all of which sold out and all of which were decided in the ninth inning.
Los Angeles won the first two, as Kirby Yates, the reigning National League Reliever of the Month, reminded everyone that he’s human. San Diego's closer surrendered a go-ahead run in the ninth inning on both Friday and Saturday.
The Friars punched back on Sunday with Hunter Renfroe's dramatic walk-off grand slam -- the eighth in franchise history. Here are three takeaways from a memorable weekend:
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1) Manny is a game-changer
The Padres might have found their Dodger killer. It only cost them $300 million.
Manny Machado tormented his former club over the weekend. On Friday, he went deep in his first career at-bat against Clayton Kerhsaw. Machado doubled that total on Saturday with two homers against Rich Hill.
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On Sunday, Machado went hitless, but he made a brilliant diving play at shortstop to save a run, ending the fourth inning.
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The Padres have essentially spent the entire decade looking up at the Dodgers, and Machado's arrival could ultimately mark a key shift in that dynamic. When they signed him, they did so with the clear intention of closing the gap on the six-time defending division champs.
"We all knew coming into it that they're the team to beat," Machado said. "Now they know they're not going to come in here and just take three games away from us like that. They're going to have to earn it."
2) The Padres' pitching plan is going to be tested
The Padres have scraped by with the youngest rotation in baseball this season. But a number of those starters are having their workloads closely monitored. That leaves a gap in the middle innings and an extra burden on Craig Stammen and Yates at the back end of the bullpen.
It's not immediately clear who's going to fill that gap. Trey Wingenter landed on the 10-day injured list on Saturday morning, joining Jose Castillo and Aaron Loup. Meanwhile, Brad Wieck and Robbie Erlin surrendered late go-ahead homers this weekend.
A season ago, San Diego could've turned to Castillo or fellow left-hander Matt Strahm to get them through the middle innings. With Strahm in the rotation, there's no obvious path from the starter to Yates and Stammen. There's also no easy way to alleviate the workload on those two. Entering play Sunday, their 34 outings were as many as any other relief duo in the Majors.
Something has to give. The Padres need more innings out of their starters. Or they need middle-relief weapons to emerge. They'd prefer it to be both.
3) The gap is closing, but there's still a gap
On Friday, San Diego had Kershaw on the ropes in the early innings. On Saturday, the Friars stormed back from a three-run deficit to tie the game in the sixth.
Those performances haven't been typical of the club over the past decade of Padres-Dodgers games.
And yet, the Dodgers still won both. Los Angeles will leave town with a series win and a cushion of 2 1/2 games over San Diego in the NL West.
"Obviously, the outcome wasn't there," Machado said. "We lost two out of three. But we played good baseball overall. The other two games we couldn't come up clutch."
On Sunday, of course, Hunter Renfroe came up historically clutch -- as the 16th player to author come-from-behind, pinch-hit walk-off grand slam.
The Padres will get another chance to prove their mettle against the Dodgers in nine days when they head to Los Angeles for a two-game set on May 14-15.