Before The Padres Take On The Dodgers, Let's Look At Last Week

[Julia Boros]

This past week, Padres and Dodgers fans all around the world sat down for one of my personal favorite series of the year as the Dodgers and Padres had a three-game series in San Diego. Before we watch the Padres open another set against the Dodgers, this time in Chavez Ravine and facing Shohei Ohtani on the mound, let's look at how San Diego fared against their northern rivals last week.

The previous match-up was a three-game series that began with Nick Pivetta on the mound for the Padres and Dustin May pitching for the Dodgers. This game ended in 10 innings, with the Dodgers taking the win, 8-7. Nick Pivetta did not have his best outing, giving up eight hits and four earned runs in four innings. Throughout Pivetta’s career, he has not performed exceptionally well against the Dodgers, except for a fantastic outing in July 2024, when he threw six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts as a Red Sox pitcher.

This seemed like a trial run for a likely and hopeful postseason where the Padres would most likely face the Dodgers, but unfortunately, Pivetta did not show out. This was Pivetta’s first start against the Dodgers as a Padre, and he will likely pitch against them again this season. This game not only ended with a Padres loss, but also with a strike call by home plate umpire Mike Estabrook that many, including Manny Machado, saw as a ball. A correct call arguably could have changed the outcome of the game, as Jackson Merrill doubled following Machado’s strikeout. Nonetheless, it unfortunately ended with a one-run loss for San Diego.

Game 2 felt like it was a run-producing machine for the Padres, as they won 11-1. They had their ace, Dylan Cease, pitching, who put on a show for all watching, with 11 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings and only three hits allowed. The Padres have had some of the worst-ranked offense in MLB for the past month, but you would have never guessed as they flipped the switch in this game against the reigning world champions. Machado came back from the bad strike call that possibly lost the game for them the day prior with five RBI and three hits. Of course, three-time batting champion Luis Arraez joined in on the runs with three hits of his own. Cease held down the dominant Dodgers lineup, having one of San Diego’s best outings of the season so far. Dylan Cease’s FIP has stayed pretty consistent in relation to last season, staying around 3.10. Now with his no-hitter into the seventh this May, in addition to this start, it shows notable improvement that could even leave him with a FIP below three at the end of the season. 

The final game of this series, game 3, ended with a Dodgers win, with Teoscar Hernandez’s three-run homer off of Jeremiah Estrada giving Los Angeles the lead in the sixth inning. Randy Vasquez, who started the game for the Padres, performed well against the Dodgers, pitching four innings and striking out four while only giving up one earned run. He will pitch against the Dodgers again on Tuesday night, June 17th. San Diego’s offense was looking rough again, as only four players notched a hit the entire game, and Fernando Tatis Jr. continued his slump as he went 0-3. There can be many reasons for the Padres' lack of offense, but it seems to me that there are too many players in a slump at the same time. 

As mentioned earlier, the Dodgers and Padres start another series Monday with four games in Los Angeles. The time is now for the Padres to capitalize on the Dodgers' pitching shortage and revive their offense. It is almost crucial for the Padres to split, if not win, this series, as the All-Star Break and trade deadline are just around the corner. With the All-Star Break approaching and signaling the halfway point of this season, if the Padres want to be true competitors with the Dodgers and Giants, they need to get their offense back in check. 

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