A costly error by Hanley Ramirez and a two-run home run from Jedd Gyorko paced the San Diego Padres to a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
With two out in the second inning Ramirez didn't get his glove down low enough to corral a routine grounder hit by Rymer Liriano. The ball scooted under him allowing Liriano to reach base. Alexi Amarista followed with a single and the pitcher, Andrew Cashner, followed that with a two-run double to left-center to give the Padres a 2-0 lead.
On that play, Ramirez committed his second miscue of the inning, which got Cashner to third.
A single to left by Cory Spangenberg scored Cashner to put the Padres up, 3-0, before Roberto Hernandez struck out Seth Smith to end the inning.
All three runs were unearned.
The two errors give Ramirez 16 on the year.
After the game, manager Don Mattingly seemed peeved at the suggestion that Ramirez's defense could pose a problem if the Dodgers make the post-season.
"He made an error. It was a costly one tonight, but it's not something that we change what we've done all year long," Mattingly said. "We've been trying to get offense from that spot, he's a guy that can do it. He gets four hits last night, he drives in a couple runs. [His error], it just happens to be a costly one tonight so it looks bad."
The Padres blew the game open in the third.
Yasmani Grandal led off with a walk. Gyorko then hit the first pitch in the center-field seats to give the Padres a 5-0 lead.
Hernandez got out of the inning without any more damage being done but his night was over.
He took the loss and saw his record fall to 8-11 overall and 2-3 as a Dodger. Hernandez has lost his last two starts and says he's struggling with his consistency as of late.
"I really try to do the exact same thing. I've, obviously, tried to stay ahead of the hitters, stay in the count. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I've tried the same approach," Hernandez said after the game through SportsNet LA reporter Alanna Rizzo, who translated for him.
His counterpart, Cashner, went seven innings allowing two runs for the win. He's now 3-7 on the season.
It was his first win against the Dodgers in six career starts, but it wasn't from a lack of domination. Cashner's only given up four earned runs in 41 career innings pitched versus LA, while striking out 31 and walking seven.
Matt Kemp went 1 for 4 with a double to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. During the streak the right fielder is hitting .339 with four homers and 13 RBIs.
Carl Crawford went 2 for 4 to continue his hot hitting. Since Aug. 10, the 33-year-old is batting .405, good for second-best in the National League behind the Cardinals Jon Jay, who's hitting at a .414 clip during the same time span.
Dee Gordon and Juan Uribe also had two hits each.
