Final: Dodgers set franchise win record with 1-0 shutout of the Padres.
SAN DIEGO — It took 10 innings and well over three hours.
But with a 1-0 extra-inning win over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday, the Dodgers have set a new franchise record in wins, picking up their 107th victory of the campaign to even this week’s series at Petco Park.
“To know that we’ve made our mark on dodgers history is pretty remarkable,” manager Dave Roberts said postgame. “A lot of people have their hands on this, not just this year but kind of building where we’re at right now. It’s something to be proud of. It’s part of the journey and we still have a lot of baseball to go. But there are certain markers that you have to take notice of and celebrate and this is certainly one.”
On a night Julio Urías spun a scoreless six-inning start and the bullpen completed the Dodgers’ 15th shutout this season with four spotless innings, it wasn’t until Freddie Freeman’s RBI single to shallow center in the top the 10th that the Dodgers finally broke a scoreless affair.
The hit was Freeman’s 192nd of the season, setting a new career-high for the former MVP.
“It didn’t go very far,” Freeman said, “but it went far enough.”
From there, Tommy Kahnle came out of the bullpen to record his first save of the season, helping the Dodgers improve to 107-48 with still seven games left to add to their franchise-best win total.
“Once October 11 hits, nobody is going to care how many wins you had in the regular season,” Freeman said. “But we’re here, we’re in the regular season — we might as well get as many wins as we can. It just shows we’ve played good baseball from start to finish to accomplish that.”
Final: Dodgers 1, Padres 0
Dodgers open scoring in the 10th on Freddie Freeman RBI single
After nine scoreless innings, this game finally has its first run.
In the top of the 10th, the Dodgers got on the scoreboard first, when automatic baserunner Mookie Betts advanced to third base on a passed ball then scored on an RBI single by Freddie Freeman.
Top 10th: Dodgers lead 1-0
Game headed to extra innings, still scoreless
For a second-straight night, we are headed to extra innings.
In the bottom of the ninth, Alex Vesia preserved the scoreless game by stranding a runner at second base.
This will be the eighth time in the Dodgers last 41 games they’ve played extra-innings.
End 9th: No score
Yency Almonte returns from injury with scoreless eighth inning
Yency Almonte looked sharp in his return from the injured list.
Facing the top of the Padres order in the eighth, the right-hander induced groundouts against Ha-Seong Kim and Juan Soto before fanning Manny Machado with a 2-and-2 slider to end the inning.
He was sitting 95 mph with his fastball, as well.
End 8th: No score
Julio Urías bolsters Cy Young credential with scoreless six inning start, but game remains scoreless
Julio Urías was already leading the National League in ERA entering tonight’s game.
Then he dropped his mark a few more points — down to 2.17 — with six scoreless innings.
In his 13th straight start giving up fewer than three runs, Urías scattered six singles and two walks, excelling again with a mostly two-pitch mix of fastballs and curveballs.
Facing a two-on, one-out jam in the first, he punched out back-to-back batters to retire the side, skipping off the mound with a motivated scream.
After letting two more get aboard with one out in the second, he dialed up a double-play ball that was converted by middle infield duo Trea Turner and Gavin Lux, each of whom got a pat from the pitcher on the way back to the dugout.
From there, Urías found more of a groove, retiring nine of the next 11 before wiggling out of one more threat in the sixth, when he stranded runners on the corners with a pair of pop outs on the infield.
That ended his night after 92 pitches, further cementing his status as the Dodgers’ most likely pitcher to start Game 1 of the playoffs.
Urías will have to settle for a no-decision, however, with the game still scoreless.
Despite ample opportunities, the Dodgers still haven’t been able to supply any run support, leaving the bases loaded in the fifth before stranding another runner in the eighth.
Joey Gallo struck out in both frames, and is 0 for 4 with four punchouts and eight runners stranded overall tonight. As a team, the Dodgers are 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Mid 8th: No score
Both pitchers laboring, but still no score through four innings
Both Julio Urías and Joe Musgrove have only one clean inning.
Both already have elevated pitch counts, with Urías at 68 and Musgrove at 83.
Yet, both have kept the opposing lineup off the scoreboard so far.
The Dodgers stranded two runners in the second and another in the third. The Padres did the same, plus had a deep fly ball from Juan Soto in the third inning die at the warning track in left.
End 4th: No score
Both teams strand runners in scoreless first inning
In an inning that took more than half-an-hour and saw five men reach base, neither team could score in the opening frame.
In the top of the first, the Dodgers got the bases loaded on a double from Mookie Betts and walks from Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy, but then Joey Gallo struck out to end the inning.
In the bottom half, the Padres got two aboard against Julio Urías before he got a called third strike in back-to-back at-bats to retire the side. The left-hander let out a yell as he strode off the mound.
End 1st: No score
Yency Almonte activated; Justin Turner sits with leg swelling
SAN DIEGO — The Dodgers activated right-hander reliever Yency Almonte from the injured list Wednesday after he’d missed the last two months with an elbow injury.
In a corresponding move, reliever Phil Bickford was placed on the injured list with right shoulder fatigue.
Almonte said he received a PRP injection in his elbow three weeks ago to deal with some lingering inflammation, but that he’s felt healthy since then.
“I don’t think anyone is expecting him to be 95-96 [mph] with a wipeout slider right now,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But we do expect to see good performance.”
The Dodgers will be shorthanded on the position player side for the next couple days, as Roberts announced that Justin Turner could miss a few games because of some swelling in his lower left leg.
Roberts said Turner initially got hurt during the team’s double-header against the Arizona Diamondbacks last week, and that he aggrivated the injury while making a slide into second base Tuesday night.
Here is the Dodgers lineup without him for Wednesday’s game, in which Julio Urías (17-7, 2.25 ERA) will face Joe Musgrove (10-7, 3.12 ERA):
Dodgers’ postseason rotation plans coming into focus, with Tony Gonsolin a possibility
SAN DIEGO — It’s probably still more of a hope than a guarantee at this point, but the Dodgers’ playoff rotation plans appear to be finally coming into focus.
Before their 4-3 walk-off loss against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday, manager Dave Roberts said the team would like to have a four-man rotation when its postseason begins in the National League Division Series on Oct. 11.
Julio Urías and Clayton Kershaw seem like locks for Game 1 and 2. Tyler Anderson will start a game, as well, Roberts reiterated Tuesday, before the left-hander pitched six strong innings at Petco Park.
The fourth spot is somewhat up in the air. However, if all goes well in the next couple of weeks, Roberts said it’s possible that Tony Gonsolin will be back from a forearm strain and ready to handle a start.
“That’s the hope,” Roberts said.
ICYMI: Craig Kimbrel falters again in Dodgers’ loss to Padres
SAN DIEGO — Even after being demoted from the closer role last week, Craig Kimbrel blew another game for the Dodgers on Tuesday night.
The embattled right-hander was far from the only culprit in the Dodgers’ 4-3 defeat to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, in which shaky defense contributed to the Padres’ first three runs and the Dodgers lineup went one for 17 with runners in scoring position.
But it was Kimbrel’s blunders that proved fatal in the 10th: a pair of two-out walks, including a bases-loaded free pass to Jorge Alfaro that gave the Padres their third walk-off win over the Dodgers this year and fourth in which they scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning or later.
“I just missed some fastballs and threw some uncompetitive pitches,” Kimbrel said. “Walked guys in.”
How to watch and stream the Dodgers this season
Here’s a look at the Dodgers broadcast and streaming schedule for the remainder of the regular season: