The San Diego Padres rallied for three runs in the 11th inning for a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night before 40,619 at Dodger Stadium. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Dodgers, who fell to 1½ games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the second wild card in the National League.
Clayton Kershaw allowed just one run in seven innings, with nine strikeouts). He now has 201 strikeouts on the season, best in the National League, and became the fifth Dodger ever to strikeout 200 in three consecutive seasons, joining Sandy Koufax (1961-1966), Don Drysdale (1962-1965), Fernando Valenzuela (1984-1986), and Hideo Nomo (1995-1997).
Chris Denorfia hit the first pitch of the game well into the left field pavilion for a 1-0 Padres lead.
Andre Ethier struck back with a solo home run of his own in the second inning against old friend Eric Stults, now with San Diego. Ethier's home run was his 17th of the season and his third in four September games. The home run was also the 1,000th hit of Ethier's career, making him the 16th Los Angeles Dodger to do so.
Stults allowed one runs in six innings in his first career start as a visitor at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers held a 3-1 lead after rallying for two runs in the seventh inning, but Yasmani Grandal tied the game at 3-3 with a two-run home run against Matt Guerrier in the eighth inning, his seventh home run of the season.
Tommy Layne struck out the heart of the Dodgers' batting order in the 10th inning for his first major league win.
Former Padre hurler Aaron Harang gets the start for the Dodgers in the series finale on Wednesday night, facing Clayton Richard for San Diego, the fifth consecutive left-handed starter faced by Los Angeles.
For more on the Dodgers, check out True Blue L.A. and stick with SB Nation Los Angeles. For the Padres, head to Gaslamp Ball.