Alex Guerrero hit the game-winning RBI on a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning, and Andre Ethier's hand touched home just in the nick of time before A.J. Ellis was thrown out at third, and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied to beat the San Diego Padres 4-3 on Friday Night.
Clayton Kershaw was dealing and the Padres were reeling for six scoreless innings at Petco Park before everything unraveled after the seventh inning stretch.
Kershaw surrendered a solo home run to Clint Barmes before he was taken out of the game for right-handed reliever Yimi Garcia. Garcia served a fastball to Derek Norris who hit a two-run homer that gave the Padres the 3-2 lead.
Los Angeles would rally in the eighth however, scoring two runs to recapture the lead and hold off the Friars thanks to Guerrero's clutch single.
"A win is a win," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Clayton pitched great, we made some mistakes, but at the end of the day we put a win on the board."
The Dodgers have relied heavily on the long ball this season scoring nearly half of their runs via the homer run. On Friday, they hit zero four baggers, manufacturing all four of their runs with patient at-bats and timely hitting.
Los Angeles opened up the scoring in the third inning when Adrian Gonzalez collected his 40th RBI of the season on a single to center.
An inning later, Ellis hit a two-out, bloop single to left field that scored Justin Turner and the Dodgers held a 2-0 lead for most of the game.
Kershaw was dominant for the fourth consecutive start, allowing just one run on four hits with 11 strikeouts through 6.2 innings. Kershaw's 11 strikeouts were his fifth double-digit output of the season, and he now leads the league with 112 total Ks on the season.
Kershaw made a season-high 117 pitches on the night, but his 113th pitch was the unlucky one that matters as Barmes crushed a slider 375-feet to left field.
"If I don't give up that homer in the seventh, we might get out of there 2-0 with the win," Kershaw said of his mistake to Barmes. "But at the end of the day, it's another win for us, so it's a good day."
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Garcia replaced the reigning NL Cy Young winner as he left the game with a 2-1 lead and was in line for the win before everything unraveled in two surreal moments.
Garcia's first pitch to Wil Myers was a routine pop fly just in front of the mound. Garcia pointed at that ball as if to say "somebody catch this," but didn't get out of the way. Turner came racing in from first, but crashed into Garcia and the ball dropped between them. When the dust settled, Myers was standing on second and Norris came to the plate as the go-ahead run.
"I called it, but I think he was trying to duck and get out of the way but he went the same direction I was going," Turner said of the bizarre play. "I was going into catch it. Regardless, we have to make that play."
On the next pitch, Norris crushed his seventh home run of the season into the second deck of the famed brick Western Supply Metal Co. building and the Padres had the lead 3-2.
The Dodgers would get off the mat an inning later when Howie Kenrick led off the eighth with a double to right field. He was able to advance to third on Matt Kemp's errant throw that ended up in left and LA had the tying run in scoring position.
Turner would single home Kendrick on the next pitch, but was picked off at second by Norris two batters later when he was caught leaning towards third when Jimmy Rollins failed to get a bunt down.
Thankfully, the base-running mistake didn't cost the Dodgers as Guerrero's bloop single to center field scored Ethier half a second before Ellis was thrown out a third by Melvin Upton Jr. Replay showed Ethier's hand touching home plate a hair ahead of the tag on Ellis and the Dodgers took back the lead 4-3.
"You can't get thrown out at third there," Mattingly added. "It was a really big hit, and thankfully we were able to get that run across before the out."
Kenley Jansen struck out the side in the ninth earning his eighth save of the season for Los Angeles.
Gonzalez was tossed from the game after grounding into an inning-ending double with the bases loaded in the seventh inning. Gonzalez appeared to be unhappy with a strike call a pitch earlier, and was caught on camera cursing at home plate umpire Doug Eddings.
"He told me I had to keep swinging at that pitch, which was clearly a ball, or he was going to keep calling it," Gonzalez said of the verbal altercation with Eddings. "At that point, there was no way I was gonna stay in this game if I made an out. I wanted him to toss me, I made sure he was going to toss me, and he tossed me. Now I want to have a nice conversation with Joe Torre."
Joe Torre is the former manager of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers and currently the executive vice president of baseball operations and reviews instances of ejections.
Game Notes:
Turner started at third base after missing the last two games with a left knee injury.
Brandon Beachy and Scott Van Slyke are scheduled to make rehab assignments within the next week.
The Padres have scored 121 runs with two outs this second, the second best mark in the National League.
