LOS ANGELES — The stakes and circumstances of these next three nights couldn’t be clearer for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Take the series against the San Diego Padres, and you pour champagne to commemorate an 11th division title in 12 seasons.
Lose, and things get complicated.
“We’re trying to put these guys to bed,” Dave Roberts said ahead of the Dodgers’ biggest September series since at least 2021.
Things got complicated on Tuesday night.
These Padres remain restless. These Dodgers squandered chance after chance. A game-sealing triple play spun perfectly towards Manny Machado to squelch the last Dodgers opportunity before its climax.
A TRIPLE PLAY! TO SECURE A SPOT IN THE POSTSEASON! UNREAL! pic.twitter.com/NfbCRgt0Y6
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 25, 2024
So it was the Padres who celebrated with champagne on Tuesday, who cheered on the field postgame and screamed “Manny!” with glee towards a shirtless Machado as they posed for photos.
And after a 4-2 Dodgers loss, the door is at least slightly cracked open. San Diego clinched a postseason spot Tuesday, with even more possible. The Padres control their destiny for the division with five games left to play.
This, despite giving the Dodgers ample opportunities to prepare for a champagne shower as soon as tomorrow night.
The last came in the ninth, as Will Smith, Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernández strung together consecutive singles against struggling Padres closer Robert Suarez to lead off the inning. A second late comeback in as many games beckoned, with Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts due up behind Miguel Rojas with potential cracks at the knockout blow.
Rojas squared around to bunt as Suarez’s first fastball caught the inside corner for a strike. The bunt signal came off as Machado inched closer from third base and Xander Bogaerts moved closer to the hole. Jake Cronenworth hovered near the second-base bag.
“So you can’t bunt because you’re bunting into an out,” Roberts explained, with the Padres lined up for a “wheel play.”
Rojas expected a fastball in. He got it and pounded it onto the ground … right at Machado, who within two steps touched third and fired to Cronenworth at second. The ensuing throw beat Rojas at first base with ease.
So went the 28th game-ending triple play in baseball history, according to the Society of American Baseball Research.
“Shocking,” Roberts said.
“I’ve never been a part of something like that,” Rojas said.
So went another chance.
“I think I let the team down on that one,” Rojas said.
Roberts said he didn’t consider leaving the bunt sign on for Rojas even after the first strike.
“I just don’t think that you’re expecting a triple play,” Roberts said. “He hit the ball hard. And I just can’t play the game of, if it gets through then it’s a great play and then if it hits right at him it’s a bad play. The game tells you what to do. And in that situation, everyone is playing in, the shortstop is in the six hole. There’s just a lot of holes out there. That’s just kind of the way you play baseball.”
Instead, Ohtani stood and watched from the on-deck circle and Betts watched from the dugout as the night came to a swift and stunning end.
“There’s less than a 1 percent chance that Shohei doesn’t come up to bat,” Roberts said. “And unfortunately that small percentage came into play.”
By then, the missed opportunities had piled up.
Ohtani rocketed Michael King’s first pitch for a double, and Bogaerts threw Betts’ groundball into the visiting dugout to bring Ohtani home. The opportunism ceased there. Betts got caught in no man’s land on a delayed double steal attempt to end the inning. When King hit Rojas with a two-strike sweeper with two outs and Ohtani worked a two-strike count into a walk to load the bases, Betts struck out.
Going a combined 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position won’t be enough to stave off a Padres team that sat at .500 as late as June 21 and has since gone 51-26. Nor was it enough for Landon Knack to have smooth sailing as he continues his audition to start a postseason game for the Dodgers as soon as next week.
Cronenworth punished a hanging changeup for a two-run shot off Knack in the second. Then the Padres wore him down in the fourth, forcing an emotionally exhausted Knack to throw 39 pitches while picking up a pair of two-out runs on Bogaerts’ smashed single up the middle and Cronenworth’s double to left.
“I’m somebody who needs to throw angry when I throw, and I think that inning, I let a little bit too much of it out, instead of keeping it into hone that stuff a little bit, just to keep making everything a little sharper,” Knack explained. “I was in the zone, but just couldn’t quite make the pitches where I needed to. And so it just kind of kind of spiraled on me there.
Through 14 appearances in the big leagues, Knack has a 3.74 ERA. Given the state of the Dodgers’ pitching staff, that’s more than good enough to qualify for a chance at starting a game next month. But with a 6.27 ERA in seven starts against clubs within postseason contention, Tuesday showed the limits of such a plan.
That this series matters this much is a testament to what the Padres have accomplished since turning it on in mid-June. For years, those around the Dodgers have alluded to San Diego’s penchant for turning it up against them. Lately, it hasn’t mattered who they’ve played.
Their lineup has stars. Their bullpen is dominant. Their starting pitching has been good enough. That’s the blueprint the Dodgers hope could carry them this coming October. It’s been working for San Diego.
“I’m sure they’re still hungry,” Roberts said. “But it’s a good team, man.”
This has made it all the more imperative to close out the division — along with a first-round bye, and potentially the top seed — as soon as possible.
“This is kind of mini-postseason for us — a three-game series where we’ve got to win the series,” Rojas said. “We got an opportunity tonight and we didn’t get it done.”
(Photo of Kiké Hernández being forced out at second, part of a game-ending triple play: Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)
