SAN DIEGO – Good things come to those that wait.
Yasiel Puig hit a two-run single in the top of the 17th inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers avoided the San Diego sweep, outlasting the Padres, 9-5, at Petco Park on Sunday.
The nearly six-hour long, 17-inning game, was the longest in Major League baseball this season and saw a total of 42 out of a possible 50 players take the field.
"There was a lot of strategy and a lot of great things that happened," Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts said of the war of attrition on the field. "As a fan, you can appreciate all the pitching, big hits and defense."
Rookie Ross Stripling (2-3) earned his second career win by throwing three innings of relief, just two days after he started in Anaheim on Thursday night.
"We needed that win," Stripling said. "It's great to steal one here. So many things had to come together for me to get in that game. I don't think I've ever been a part of a game that long. It's an unbelievable team win."
It felt like ages ago, but the Dodgers originally erased a four-run deficit, punctucated by Howie Kendrick's first home run of the 2016 season.
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Kendrick was 4-for-8 and fell a triple shy of the cycle as he had a home run, two doubles and two runs scored.
After blowing the lead in back-to-back games, the Dodgers came back from a four-run deficit to avoid a potentially disastrous five-game losing streak.
After four no-hit innings, Dodgers' starter Kenta Maeda ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth when he allowed a leadoff single to Melvin Upton Jr. After Upton stole second, Christian Bethancourt brought him home with a single to left field to give the Padres the lead.
Three batters later, Wil Myers broke the game open with a bases-clearing triple to right field and when the dust settled, San Diego had hung a four-run inning on Maeda.
"The ball fell passed me and turned into a triple," said Puig after his diving attempt on the play.
Maeda did not factor in the decision, allowing four runs on four hits, all of which came in the fifth inning, with five strikeouts in five innings of work.
Los Angeles chipped away at the lead in the top half of the sixth off San Diego starter Colin Rea. Corey Seager and Adrian Gonzalez hit RBI singles in the inning as the Dodgers cut the lead to 4-3.
Rea also got a no-decision, serving up three runs on three hits with three strikeouts in five innings.
Justin Turner became the first Dodger hitter to get to Padres' relief pitcher Ryan Buchter when he sent a 93MPH fastball into the upper-deck in left field for his third home run of the season and second of the series.
Buchter, the former-Dodger, had an 18.1 scoreless innings streak entering Sunday, and appeared in all three games of the series.
In the top of the eighth, Kendrick swung at the first pitch he saw from Padres' reliever Brandon Maurer and crushed it into the "Sun Diego Beach" area in right-center field for the go-ahead blast.
The game hinged in the bottom of the 8th on a rematch between Upton and Dodgers' closer Kenley Jansen. On Friday night, Upton hit a two-run, walk-off homer off Jansen, the first of his seven-year career, in the Padres 7-6 victory.
"Melvin's put some good at-bats on Kenley," Roberts said. "He told me he wanted the ball in a four-out save situation, so I gave Kenley the baseball and felt great about it. I would do the same thing tomorrow."
On Sunday, Upton got the best of Jansen again as he tripled to right-center with two outs, scoring Myers to tie the game.
"Upton has made some good adjustments against him," Dodgers' catcher A.J. Ellis said. "He had a lot of confidence going into that at-bat and it showed."
The bullpens took over form there as the game went into extra innings for the second consecutive day. Both pens threw eight innings of scoreless baseball before the Dodgers finally broke the game open in the top of the 17th.
"It was good to grind it out and get one in the win column," said Ellis who caught all 17 frames. "We got contributions from so many people, and hopefully we can build a lot of confidence off this moving forward."
Kendrick started the inning off with a ground-rule double and two intentional walks later, Puig singled home the go-ahead runs off Padres reliever Luis Perdomo (1-1). LA tacked on two more insurance runs thanks to a wild pitch and a fielder's choice.
"I knew I had to do something to help my team after the base-running blunder," Puig said through a translator. "Thankfully, I was able to make up for it."
Puig was on second with no outs in the top of the 9th, and did not advance to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ellis that had his coaches and teammates scratching their heads in confusion.
"Things happen," Ellis said of the play. "We all have our moments and mental errors. The thing that's great about Yasiel is he learned from it. I'm happy he was able to come up and get the big hit there to push us ahead."
The manager concurred.
"I was shocked," Roberts said of the failed bunt. "But for him to get another opportunity to break it open and get the game winning hit was huge for him as well for us."
Players of the Game:
Justin Turner: Game-tying HR in 7th.
Howie Kendrick: 4-for-8 with a HR, two doubles and two runs scored.
Wil Myers: Three-run triple.
Three Takeaways:
1. #PuigWasLate: Dodgers' outfielder Yasiel Puig was late to dive on a shallow pop fly to right field in the bottom of the fifth inning, allowing the ball to roll passed him and three runs to score for San Diego.
Puig just had a classic screwup �� pic.twitter.com/t5ieMp3np8 — Thomas B (@BaseballThomasB) May 22, 2016
2. Upton Vs. Jansen Part Deux: San Diego Padres left-fielder Mevlin Upton Jr. hit the first walk-off home run of Kenley Jansen's career on Friday night in the Padres 7-6 victory over the Dodgers. It was Jansen's first blown save of the season, and on Sunday, he was given a shot of redemption in the rematch. Jansen entered the game with two outs and a runner on second in the bottom of the 8th and Upton at the plate. Once again, Upton got the better of Jansen, tripling to right-center to tie the game, handing Jansen his second blown save of the season.
Upton wins the rematch. An RBI triple ties the game. Another blown save for Jansen. Run is charged to Coleman. #LAvsSD — SoCal Sports 4 You (@SoCalSports4You) May 22, 2016
3. C'Mon Man! Los Angeles Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis laid down a sacrifice bunt with no outs in the top of the ninth and Yasiel Puig on second. Instead of advancing to third, Puig stood still on the play and was almost picked off by Upton who snuck behind him to cover the bag. A visibly upset Ellis yelled "C'Mon!" as he walked back to the dugout.
Puig lunching Ellis fed up stays put @ 2nd on bunt to 3rd then almost picked off �������� #Dodgers #Padres https://t.co/9e6yhjFHDF — UncleDFS_ (@UncleDFS_) May 22, 2016
Up Next:
Dodgers (22-23): Los Angeles returns home from their atrocious five-game road trip to host the Cincinnati Reds in a short three-game series at Dodger Stadium. Clayton Kershaw gets the ball in Game 1 at 7:10 PM PST.
Padres (18-26): After getting swept at home by the Giants, San Diego travels to San Francisco for an even more difficult three-game stretch at AT&T Park.
