The Los Angeles Dodgers' offense was dormant for eight innings on Tuesday and while they rallied in the ninth inning, it ultimately wasn't enough as they fell 2-1 to the San Diego Padres. With the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals both winning on Tuesday, the Dodgers fell to five games back in the National League Wild Card chase.
The Dodgers entered the ninth inning trailing 2-0, but cut that deficit in half quickly. Luis Cruz led off the inning with a single, then scored when the next batter, A.J. Ellis, doubled. Dee Gordon pitch ran for Ellis and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Mark Ellis then walked to put runners at first and third with one out and the heart of the Dodgers lineup coming up.
While the Dogers appeared to be in good position to at least tie the game, Huston Street struck out Andre Ethier for a cruicial second out before Matt Kemp flew out to right field to end the rally and secure the win for the Padres. Street made it interesting, but will still able to record his 23rd save of the season.
Edinson Volquez started the game for the Padres and allowed just six hits over seven shutout innings. The Padres offense was just good enough to squeak out the win. San Diego won despite being outhit 10-5. The Padres scored a run in both the fourth and fifth innings.
San Diego scored both of its runs against Josh Beckett, who started the game for the Dodgers. Beckett allowed two runs on five hits while striking out seven over 5-2/3 innings. Beckett is 1-2 in six starts with Los Angeles although he has allowed three earned runs or less in five of the six starts.
Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez each finished with two hits for the Los Angeles, but the Dodgers didn't have an extra base hit until A.J. Ellis doubled in the top of the ninth. The Dodgers have now scored three runs or less in six of their last eight games.
The two teams will play the second game of the three-game series Wednesday with first pitch scheduled for 3:35 p.m. PT.