Los Angeles

Dodgers Lose to Padres, 3-2, on Walk-Off Walk

Alex Wood struck out a career-high 13 batters, but the San Diego Padres literally won on a walk-off walk in the bottom of the 11th to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Saturday night at Petco Park.

SAN DIEGO – It was literally a walk-off. 

Relief pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao walked three consecutive batters in the bottom of the 11th, including Yangervis Solarte with the bases loaded, and the San Diego Padres defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 at Petco Park on Saturday night. 

"We had two outs and then the wheels fell off with Tsao," Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts said. "He just couldn't find the strike zone."

The Padres scored two of their three runs on sac flys, and then the winning-run on a walk en route to defeating their Southern California rivals for the second consecutive night. 

"We're finding different ways to lose games," Roberts added. "I haven't seen this one before. It's a tough way to lose."

Winless in his last six starts on the road, Dodgers' starter, Alex Wood, was dominant through the first six innings. Wood struck out a career-high 13 hitters, including every Padres player with the exception of Wil Myers. 

"They have some good guys in that lineup and me and Yaz [Grandal] were able to weave in and out of it in those first few innings," Wood said of his start. "I felt like we made some pitches when we needed to."

Myers was Wood's Achilles' heel all night as he had half of the hits Wood allowed, and three of the Padres five in the game. 

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Wood did not factor in the decision for the third straight game as he allowed two runs on four hits in six strong innings. His 13 strikeouts were the most in a six-inning start in Dodgers' history, and the most by anybody not named Clayton Kershaw since Brad Penny struck out 14 in 2007.

"It's been tough these last few games," Wood said of the no decisions. "We definitely need to come in here with some energy tomorrow and leave San Diego with a win."

The Dodgers trailed by one in the top of the seventh when Trayce Thompson continued his torrid month of May with a two-run blast into the "Sun Diego Beach" in right-center. The ball traveled an estimated 412-feet, and gave the Dodgers a brief lead. 

"I'm trying not to force it," Thompson said of his hot-hitting. "I stick to my routine. The biggest thing is not trying to force the issue and find a way to have good at-bats."

It was Thompson's seventh home run of the season, and sixth of the month as he's batting .304 with two doubles and 14 RBI in that span. It was also Thompson's team-leading fourth go-ahead home run this season, and snapped a scoreless streak of 11.2 innings thrown by San Diego starter Cesar Vargas against the Dodgers.

"He knows his strengths and has a good cut-fastball," Thompson said. "He knows exactly where to throw to guys, but as an offense we just need to pick it up."

Vargas threw a career-high seven innings, but is still in search of his first win of the season after he did not factor in the decision, allowing just the two runs on four hits with a career-high tying seven punchouts.

Wood ran into some tough luck in the bottom of the seventh when he allowed a broken-bat bloop double to Derek Norris to leadoff the inning.

"He made a good pitch, but broken-bat double," Grandal said of Wood's bad luck. "Sometimes that's just the way the game of baseball goes."

One pitch later, Brett Wallace singled to left field and Wood's night was done. The Padres would tie the game two batters later when pinch-hitter Alexi Amarista hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Norris. 

The game was placed in the hands of both bullpens after that as each team took turns throwing three scoreless frames before the Padres recorded their first win with a walk-off walk since May 6, 2011. 

The victory was San Diego's second straight walk-off and the first time Los Angeles has allowed consecutive walk-off losses since April of 2015 against the San Francisco Giants.

"You never want a team to walk-off on you," Dodgers' catcher A.J. Ellis said who has behind the plate in the 11th. "It's never a good feeling when you're on the road."

Corey Seager went 0-for-5, snapping his career-high 11-game hit streak. On a bright note, the Dodgers stuck out 19 Padres in the game, the third-most in franchise history.

Los Angeles has now dropped four straight games and fall two games below .500 for the first time this year. 

Players of the Game:

Alex Wood: Career-high 13 strikeouts.
Trayce Thompson: Go-ahead two-run home run.
Cesar Vargas: 2 runs on 4 hits with 7 strikeouts in 7IP.

Three Takeaways:

1. Kershaw Who? Alex Wood became the first Dodgers pitcher –not named Clayton Kershaw—since Brad Penny in 2007 to strikeout 13 or more batters in a game.

2. Wood you like some History? Alex Wood had 13 strikeouts in six innings of work. According to Baseball Reference, he's the first Dodger to record 13 strikeouts in six or fewer innings EVER.

3. K, We Get It: The Los Angeles Dodgers tied a franchise record on Saturday for most strikeouts in a nine-inning game with 18. Alex Wood (13), Adam Liberatore (1) and Joe Blanton (4) combined for the milestone which has been set multiple times and twice by Sandy Koufax alone.

Up Next:
Dodgers (21-23): Kenta Maeda returns to the place he hit his first career home run as Los Angeles finishes their series with San Diego.

Padres (19-25): Colin Rea faces the Dodgers for the third time this season at 1:40 PM PST.

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