SAN DIEGO -- As usual, Dodgers-Padres delivered. It always does, doesn’t it?
In the first meeting of the season between the two fierce National League West rivals -- and the first since their tense five-game Division Series last year -- the Dodgers held on for a wild 8-7 victory in 10 innings at Petco Park on Monday night.
“That game was sick,” said Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill. “We didn’t win. It sucks. But that is an unbelievable baseball game, in my opinion -- back-and-forth all game.”
Twelve more to go -- and perhaps a few extra come October. We’d call it an instant classic, but with these two teams, it’s more or less par for the course. Here’s a breakdown of Monday’s thriller.:
Rivalry renewed
Both sides spent the pregame downplaying the importance of this week’s series. And, sure, in the big picture, it’s only three games in early June.
Then the two teams took the field, and it became pretty clear pretty quickly that the energy was … different.
"The fans, certainly, they’re always into it," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "You’ve got two good ballclubs. I think the way you saw Mike [Shildt] manage with some urgency and kind of the moves -- I wouldn’t say playoff game, but it was intense. It was fun out there."
As the rivalry has blossomed into one of the best in baseball over the past half decade, games between these two have almost always delivered drama. They’ve met three times in the past five postseasons -- including the Dodgers’ NLDS victory last October. Plus, their regular-season meetings often bring postseason vibes anyway.
“I always feel like the intensity goes up when we play against these guys,” said Tyler Wade, whose three-run triple gave the Padres a 6-5 lead in the third.
Machado vs. Scott
Tanner Scott’s 10th-inning showdown with Manny Machado might have been the game’s decisive moment. Fitting perhaps. Once upon a time, Machado was sent to the Dodgers at the Trade Deadline, before signing with the Padres. Scott did the opposite over the past 12 months.
With Machado leading off the bottom of the 10th as the tying run, he worked the count full, then laid off a backdoor slider that may or may not have caught the outside corner. Plate ump Mike Estabrook called it strike three. Machado took exception and promptly turned to argue with Estabrook -- who was wearing a camera on his mask for the occasion.
Machado didn’t quite push the envelope far enough for an ejection -- to the credit of both Machado and perhaps Estabrook. But viewers at home were treated to an in-your-face version of an irked Machado.
After the game, Shildt made it clear he wouldn’t use the call as an excuse for the Padres’ loss. But he also made it clear he disagreed.
“The ball four call?” Shildt said when asked if he’d seen it. “It was off the plate. Mike does a good job, has a really good crew. Listen, we had a lot of other opportunities to do things in that game. Clearly Manny’s locked in, and that’s a big at-bat.”
Dodgers hang on in extras
Neither team had scored since the fifth inning, when Hyeseong Kim knotted the contest at 6 with an RBI double off Yuki Matsui. But the Dodgers moved quickly in the 10th.
Andy Pages saw two pitches from Padres reliever Wandy Peralta, then lined a ball that left fielder Brandon Lockridge seemed to misread off the bat. It dropped for an RBI double, plating the go-ahead run. The next batter, Tommy Edman, knocked a base hit that deflected off the second-base bag and scored Pages, tacking on some necessary insurance.
Then entered Scott, the Dodgers' de facto closer. He sent Machado down on strikes -- controversy and all -- before allowing the automatic runner to score on Merrill's one-out double.
There was drama until the end, although Scott still managed to preserve the lead. He understands what games like these mean as someone who's been on both sides.
"It's our rival," Scott said. "Any team that plays a rival, there's always a little added intensity."
A frenzied start
Both teams entered Monday’s game struggling offensively. Didn’t look like it.
Evidently, all it took was a taste of rivalry baseball to wake those bats up. The Dodgers scored two in the first. The Padres answered with two of their own. The Padres took a 3-2 lead in the second. The Dodgers scored three in the third, including Will Smith’s two-run home run. In the bottom of the frame, Wade answered with his two-out, two-strike triple -- the first three-RBI game of his career, coming on one swing.
“It was back and forth,” said Shildt. “They punch, we punch -- it’s a typical game we play against them. And many more to come.”
The game mostly settled down after those first three innings. Still, it featured its share of bizarre moments. Machado and Wade lost a Freddie Freeman popup in the haze. Padres reliever Adrian Morejon made things difficult on himself with a throwing error on a routine ground ball -- then punched out Freeman to end the eighth.
Ultimately the difference in the game might’ve been this: The Dodgers chased Padres starter Nick Pivetta after four innings, then San Diego needed three relievers to cover the next three frames. Los Angeles, meanwhile, got seven innings from two arms -- five from a shaky but resilient Dustin May, then two from Anthony Banda.
When it got to the 10th, the Padres were out of high-leverage arms. The Dodgers had Scott.
An early NL West statement?
After not seeing each other since last October, the Dodgers and Padres are facing off seven times in the span of 11 days. The two clubs are a mere two games apart in the NL West standings, with L.A. sitting in first place and San Diego in third.
In between this series at Petco Park and next week's set at Dodger Stadium, both teams play other competitive NL West opponents: The Dodgers host the Giants (1 1/2 games back), and the Padres visit the D-backs (7 1/2 games back).
With plenty of season left to play, none of the teams are going to run away with the division at this juncture. But it could be an opportunity for the more viable contenders to begin separating themselves from the pack.