Dodgers avoid sweep with late-inning comeback

The San Diego Padres held a 2-1 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers heading into the 6th inning but a bad decision by Mike Shildt on which reliever to bring in to replace Nick Pivetta might've sunken the team, leading to a big rally for the Dodgers' offense and...eventually...an 8-2 Dodgers win to avoid a sweep at the hand of the Padres.

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So far in this series, the name of the game has been pitching. The Padres have gotten better performances from their starter and their bullpen, which is why they came into Sunday's game looking for a sweep.

It looked like things were taking a turn to start things off, as Nick Pivetta started off the game by issuing a walk, allowing a single, and then issuing another walk. Luckily, Ramón Laureano is on a heater and that has carried over to his CF defense.

Pivetta struck out the next two batters and kept the Dodgers off the board for the next four innings.

Elías Díaz, getting the traditional "day game after a night game" backup catcher start, was not going to miss an opportunity to put his stamp on this game a series when he came up in the 3rd inning after Jake Cronenworth singled.

For a while, it felt like a 2-1 lead might be all the Padres needed to finish off the sweep. It still felt like that when Freddie Freeman hit a screamer down the line that was just barely ruled foul, but on the very next pitch...

Jeremiah Estrada, who came into this game with an ERA of 14.29 in 5.2 innings pitched against the Dodgers , took over for the Padres to start the 7th inning. It won't be going down after this one, either.

Estrada gave up a single and a walk before hanging a slider that Dalton Rushing hit over the right field wall.

Estrada ended up getting out 2 batters while giving up 4 earned runs. The outing rose his ERA against the Dodgers this season to 18.47, or "more than 2 runs per inning".

Estrada was quoted in today's Padres Daily column as such:

He had exorcised a demon and then gotten burned.

“Taking a zero off the board, it’s annoying,” he said. “When you give up nine runs to one fricking team, it’s frustrating. You start to just — I’m still going to go out there and throw my same (stuff), but …”

Sounds like Jeremiah was quite aware of his track record against the Dodgers this season, which means his manager definitely was. Why the decision to bring him into a tie-game in the 7th? Mike Shildt will undoubtedly have to answer that question after this game.

Wandy Peralta replaced Estrada, probably a sign that the Padres were waving the white flag instead of burning through their most important relief pitchers before flying to Seattle for a game tomorrow, and also got rocked by Freddie Freeman.

With that, the Dodgers took a commanding 5-run lead and the rest of the game was on cruise control for both teams, including a Shohei Ohtani HR against Yuki Matsui.

The Padres and Dodgers are again tied for first place in the NL West, with the Padres playing in Seattle against the Mariners tomorrow night and the Dodgers returning to Dodger Stadium to take on the Cincinnati Reds.