Have you ever seen that type of game where the energy slowly gets taken away from you and the team, but not enough to make you completely give up early? In the end, things keep spiraling in a slow and methodical way until you look up, and the Dodgers were on their way to an 11-1 loss. That’s how one felt watching this game as San Diego capitalized on a massive pitching advantage with Dylan Cease squaring off against Matt Sauer and an opener.
Lou Trivino got things going with a clean inning against the fearsome top of the order for the Padres, and Sauer was in charge of the bulk innings. The best thing you can say about the outing is that he did manage to provide length, all while getting battered by San Diego, unfortunately.
Sauer gave it his all, and it was not necessarily one inning that did him in. The Padres just kept coming at him in relentless fashion, scoring in all but the first of the five innings he pitched in.
The feeling of a slow death comes from the fact that at virtually every turn, Sauer kept managing to limit the damage, all while the offense remained threatening against Dylan Cease. Sadly, the Dodgers never capitalized on their opportunities against the Padres starter, while San Diego never let Sauer off the hook completely.
After stranding a runner on second with only one out in his second, Sauer proceeded to retire the first two batters of the third inning. Still, even with two outs, he allowed three runs in that frame with the top of the order punishing him, led by a Fernando Tatis Jr. walk and capped by a Jackson Merrill triple.
The following two innings saw Sauer escape massive jams to allow one run in each, but the traffic on the basepaths eventually caught up to him, with another four coming around in the sixth, making this a 9-0 game.
It doesn’t make anyone feel any better, but we’d be remiss not to point out that this performance wasn’t even the worst one by a Dodger pitcher tonight. Over in Triple-A, Bobby Miller one-upped Sauer by allowing 10 earned runs on his own. In many ways, that clarifies why the Dodgers are in this position, scraping together starts to cover amidst a plethora of injuries.
A boost for the next game is that, with the score completely out of hand, by the time Sauer left the mound, Dave Roberts turned to a position player to wrap things up. This move helped keep the bullpen fresh, especially after a busy outing on Monday.
The blowout tally gets all the attention, but the offense does have a lot to lament, letting Cease off the hook without an earned run despite the Padres’ starter walking five Dodger hitters. Teoscar Hernández’s struggles in particular proved costly, as the right-fielder stranded five baserunners in back-to-back at-bats in the third and fifth.
Game particulars
Home runs: MartÃn Maldonado (3)
WP — Dylan Cease (2-5): 7 IP, 3 hits, 5 walks, 11 strikeouts
LP — Matt Sauer (1-1): 4⅔ IP, 13 hits, 9 runs, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Up next
Justin Wrobleski against Randy Vázquez doesn’t exactly scream a matchup of title contenders, but that’s what’s on the schedule for Wednesday’s afternoon game (1:10 p.m., SportsNet LA) between the Dodgers and Padres