A.J. Ellis hit a walk-off single in the 11th inning for the Los Angeles Dodgers, leading them to a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres in the opener of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium. The win kept the Dodgers within a half-game of the St. Louis Cardinals for the second wild card in the National League.
The game went into extra innings thanks to Andre Ethier, who hit a game-tying solo home run against Luke Gregerson in the ninth inning.
Brandon League pitched two scoreless innings for his first win of the season. He has not been scored upon in his last eight appearances.
Chase Headley homered and drove in all three runs for the Padres. Headley hit a two-run home run to right field in the first inning and drove in the go-ahead score in the seventh inning with a single to center. He leads all of baseball with 16 home runs and 50 RBI since the All-Star break.
Joe Blanton allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings, his second straight quality start. He struck out six and walked two, one intentionally. But he avoided a loss thanks to Ethier's game-tying home run in the ninth inning against Luke Gregerson.
Hanley Ramirez homered for the Dodgers, giving him 10 home runs and 36 RBI in just 38 games since getting acquired by the Dodgers on July 25. But that was just one of two runs scored against rookie pitcher Andrew Werner, making his third career start for the Padres. Werner struck out eight and walked one.
Clayton Kershaw gets the start for the Dodgers on Tuesday night, facing former Dodgers pitcher Eric Stults, who gets the start for San Diego.
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