It started with a bang, but ended with a whimper.
Chris Taylor hit a leadoff homer, but San Diego struck back with four home runs of their own as the Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-5, on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.
The back-and-forth battle began with a bang as Taylor hit his sixth career leadoff home run to give the Dodgers an early, 1-0 lead.
"That definitely helps the confidence for the later at-bats," said Taylor of his third leadoff home run of the season. "I can trust my eyes and not have to think too much when I go up there."
Since moving back atop the order, Taylor has reached base six times in his last 12 plate appearances.
"Moving around in the lineup is nothing new for me," said Taylor. "Last year I did it a ton in the first half of the season. I'm just glad to be in the lineup wherever it is."
The Padres would respond in the top half of the second, as Freddy Galvis blasted a two-run home run that wrapped inside the left field foul pole to give San Diego a 2-1 lead.
Justin Turner tied the game with his first home run of the season, a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Dodgers weren't finished putting runs on the board as Logan Forsythe hit an RBI single four batters later, and Los Angeles took a 4-2 lead into the fifth inning.
"JT obviously his at-bat quality looks right," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. "That's a good sign for our offense and Logan too. He's taking more aggressive swings and so he's getting more confident."
Old friend A.J. Ellis shaved a run off the lead with a solo shot off Alex Wood in the top of the fifth.
The home run was Ellis' first against his former team and his first of the season with San Diego.
The Boys in Blue added an insurance run in the bottom half of the frame as Cody Bellinger worked a bases loaded walk off Jordan Lyles that gave the Dodgers a 5-3 lead.
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"To be able to take the walk when they're giving it to you is good," said Roberts. "He's getting closer, he really is. He's trying to fight the results, but Cody is really close."
Lyles did not factor in the decision, allowing five runs on seven hits with four walks and four strikeouts in 4 and 2/3 innings. In eight career games at Dodger Stadium, Lyles has a record of 0-3 with a 7.11 ERA.
National League Rookie of the Year frontrunner, Christian Villanueva, tied the game with one swing in the top of the sixth, as he crushed a changeup from Wood deep into the left field pavilion.
"I just threw a stupid pitch to Villanueva. It was high-risk, high-reward. I was trying to throw a changeup down, but I left it a little up and he made me pay for it," said Wood. "This one is on me tonight. They battled for me earlier and scored some runs and there's really no way around it. This one's on me."
That would be the last pitch Wood would throw as he left the game without a decision, allowing five runs on six hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in 5 and 1/3 innings.
"There was no in between tonight. I made either really good pitches or really bad pitches," said Wood of his start overall. "The three bads one that I threw were just very bad pitches. Usually I miss down or miss out, but tonight they were over the plate."
Villanueva wasn't finished as he added an insurance run for San Diego with his second home run of the game, a solo shot off Josh Fields in the top of the eighth inning.
The Mexican rookie now has 14 home runs in his first season with San Diego, one behind Bryce Harper for the most in the National League. Villanueva also set a new MLB record for most home runs in a rookie season by a Mexican-born player.
"Give credit to those guys. Those four home runs did us in," said Roberts. "We still had our chances and when we scored, they answered. I thought we had some good at-bats tonight, scored some runs, unforuntately we came up short."
Padres' closer Brad Hand pitched a scoreless ninth for his 16th save of the season.
The Dodgers four home runs allowed on Saturday tied a season-high.
Up Next:
The Padres are expected to have a bullpen game in the finale of the series as the Dodgers counter with RHP Walker Buehler, who will face the Padres for the first time since the team's combined no-hitter on May 5th in Monterrey, Mexico. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10PM PST.
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