After the winning streak ended last night, the Los Angeles Dodgers got back on track with a 5-0 win versus the San Diego Padres, setting up a rubber match on Sunday.
Both starting pitchers were effective during their start, with James Paxton turning in arguably his best start with the Dodgers, and Matt Waldron holding the Dodgers offense in check.
Paxton threw six scoreless innings, giving up just four hits with four strikeouts. But perhaps most notably, he didn’t walk a single batter, which has been an issue for him this season.
The Big Maple has now turned in back-to-back strong starts after going 6.2 innings with just one run allowed against the Atlanta Braves. He now owns a 2.58 ERA across 38.1 innings.
As for Waldron, he pitched 5.1 innings, giving up two runs on two hits with six strikeouts and two walks. The first run of the game was a solo homer from Freddie Freeman in the first inning, and then the knuckleballer began to settle in.
In the sixth inning, Waldron walked Shohei Ohtani to start a rally with one out, and then he was replaced by Adrian Morejon, who retired Freeman, but walked Will Smith and Max Muncy to load the bases with two outs.
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Enyel De Los Santos entered the game to face Teoscar Hernández, and that proved to be a mistake for the Padres as the veteran slugger blasted a no-doubt grand slam to put the Dodgers up 5-0. It was Hernandez’s 11th home run and 33rd RBI of the season as he continues to drive in runs for the Dodgers.
That was all the scoring for the game. Gus Varland ended up replacing Paxton to pitch the seventh, Ryan Yarbrough worked the eighth, and J.P. Feyereisen pitched the ninth.
Dodgers and Padres set Petco Park record
The announced attendance at Petco Park was 46,701 fans, which set the stadium record for most fans in attendance during a single game, passing Opening Day in 2014 when they hosted 45,567 fans, which was also against the Dodgers.
Many of the fans in attendance were Dodgers fans, as they have historically travelled well down to San Diego. The Padres have averaged 38,871 fans per game this second, which is second in MLB, behind the Dodgers 46,149.
