Padres owner Peter Seidler was interviewed during ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball and said of the Dodgers, “You’re the dragon on the freeway that we’re trying to kill.”
San Diego has made incredible roster-building strides this week and for the past few years, which should help the Padres both this postseason and the coming Octobers. But for now, the Dodgers are the league of the National League West, ending a win over San Diego with a 4-0 win on Sunday.
Los Angeles, which allowed just four runs in the three-game streak, leads by 15½ games ahead of second-placed San Diego.
Tyler Anderson clinched the win on Sunday, adding to his magical season with seven scoreless innings against San Diego. The left-hander allowed just two singles and a walk and wiped out one of those runners on a double play, facing just two batters over the minimum.
Anderson, the Dodgers’ innings lead this season, lowered his ERA to 2.72 while scoring three hits. With the win, Anderson joined Tony Gonsolin at the 13-1 club and scored at least seven frames for the sixth time in 2022, most on the team.
This season at home, Anderson is 7-0 with a 2.30 ERA. This was Anderson’s first start at Dodger Stadium since Vin Scully’s death. His first Los Angeles start came in September 2016 in Scully’s last home show of his 67-year career, which was won by the Dodgers in the 10th inning to a walk-off home run by Charlie Culberson.
say it out loud
Juan Soto was miked for the end of the third inning, a feature that’s becoming increasingly popular on exclusive shows (ESPN Sunday Night, Fox Saturdays, Peacock Sunday Mornings spring to mind). It’s usually difficult to have a compelling conversation on the field with a player actively participating in a game, but Soto was about as engaging as one could hope given the situation.
The conversation perhaps lasted longer than Soto would have liked, as the Dodgers consistently hit the ball hard against Yu Darvish for the first time in the game. Cody Bellinger got things going with a home run into midfield that saw Soto yell “stay here” multiple times and try to stay in the ballpark to no avail.
After a double from Mookie Betts, Trea Turner almost added an extra base hit himself, only to have Soto track it down near the warning lane in right field. Soto is good friends with Turner, having been his teammate in Washington for four seasons, and Soto even showed up at Dodger Stadium for last year’s wildcard game wearing a Turner jersey to support his former teammate.
Of course, after catching Turner’s drive, Soto laughed and said, “Now he’s getting mad at me.”
Bellinger added another solo home run in game seven against Luis García, standing in essentially the same spot. It was the second multi-home run game this season, tied with April 24 in San Diego.
Of Bellinger’s fifteen home runs this season, a third are against the Padres.
The Dodgers surpassed the Padres 20-4 during the Weekend Series, and this season they are 8-2 against San Diego and surpassing them 55-18.
Sunday information
home runs: Cody Bellinger 2 (15)
WP — Tyler Anderson (13-1): 7 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts
LP — Yu Darwish (10-5): 6 IP, 7 hits, 2 runs, 5 strikeouts
Next
After eighteen straight days of play, the Dodgers have their first post-breakoff day on Monday and another on Thursday. In between, the Twins are in town for LA’s last interleague home series of 2022. Julio Urías starts Tuesday night (7:10 p.m. SportsNet LA) with the series opener, with right-hander Joe Ryan serving for Minnesota.