By 7:30pm, five hours and 47 minutes after this absurdity of a game started, the sun had already set behind Petco Park. The Los Angeles Dodgers had emptied the bench and the bullpen across 17 innings. Now, with the final out recorded, the group convened in the centre of the diamond to celebrate a 9-5 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Just moments before, the sprinklers in right field turned on. No one, not even the grounds crew, expected the game to last this long.
The team used nine pitchers, including Ross Stripling, the scheduled starter for Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, for the final three innings. The team took 65 at-bats, finally breaking through in the 17th when Yasiel Puig hit a two-run single. Two more runs scored as the Padres broke down.
The final few innings felt like torture. The Dodgers (22-23) missed a chance to manufacture a run in the ninth when Puig declined to advance on a clean bunt. The team loaded the bases with none out and came away empty after Carl Crawford hit into a 4-2-3 double play.
Manager Dave Roberts stripped his roster bare – save for reliever Chin-hui Tsao, who spent the entirety of the game on the bench. In the 15th, Roberts used Clayton Kershaw, his starter on Monday, to pinch-hit for reliever J.P. Howell. Kershaw hit a grounder to advance the potential go-ahead run to second, but Joc Pederson hit an infield pop-up for the third out.
It took until the 17th for the team to break the will of Padres reliever Luis Perdomo. The victory did not push the team back above .500, but at least the group avoided the embarrassment of a sweep at Petco Park.
Down four runs in the sixth inning, the Dodgers stormed back against the San Diego bullpen. Justin Turner tied the proceedings with a towering home run in the seventh. Howie Kendrick gave his club its first lead of the day soon after with his first homer of the season.
For the second time in three days, Roberts handed the baseball to Kenley Jansen for a four-out save. For the second time in three days, Padres outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. vanquished Jansen. Two days after his walk-off homer, Upton tied the score with an RBI triple in the eighth.
The Dodgers received another puzzling outing from Kenta Maeda. He gave up four runs in five innings, appearing to lose steam as the afternoon continued.
During his first eight starts, Maeda threw his fastball 40.7 percent of the time. Of the 105 pitchers qualified for the earned-run average title, only six were less likely to throw fastballs. Two of those pitchers – R.A. Dickey and Steven Wright – rely on a knuckleball. Three of the others – Collin McHugh, Adam Wainwright and Clay Buchholz – make liberal use of a cutter. The sixth man in the group is New York Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka.
In transitioning from Nippon Professional Baseball, Maeda has often expressed surprise at the strength of his new opposing hitters. Even the pitchers can unleash force, a reality Maeda learned when he gave up two home runs to New York Mets starter Noah Syndergaard earlier this month. “He was pretty surprised about the Syndergaard power,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers worried that Maeda was becoming too reliant on his slider, his most trustworthy off-speed pitch. The team counselled him to challenge opponents, rather than nibble.
“It’s more an emphasis of not giving the hitters too much credit,” Roberts said. “And understanding that he’s got fastball command. And he’s got to trust that.” Maeda leaned on the fastball in the first inning. He threw three consecutive fastballs to each of the three hitters he faced. An at-bat with former Dodger Matt Kemp exemplified the team’s hopes for Maeda’s sequences. He picked up two strikes with his fastball, then fanned Kemp with a slider.
Maeda threw first-pitch fastballs to nine of the 13 batters he faced to open the game. None recorded a hit. Upton delivered the first Padres hit with a leadoff single in the fifth. He swiped second base, with A.J. Ellis unable to make a throw.
The extra base proved costly. Two batters later, Maeda fooled catcher Christian Bethancourt with a pair of sliders. But Bethancourt connected with a third. His single scored Upton.
Maeda started to waver. He gave up a hit to opposing starter Colin Rea on a curveball. He walked outfielder Jon Jay on five pitches. The bases were loaded for Myers. Maeda tested Myers with fastballs and sliders on the fists. Myers swung late on a hanging slider. The potential third out floated into right field. Puig sprinted forward, stretched out and dove. The ball deflected off his glove and trickled behind him. Three runs scored.
The Dodgers found an answer in the sixth. Enrique Hernandez led off with a walk. Chase Utley singled. Corey Seager did the same, scoring Hernandez. Utley scored on a wild pitch. Adrian Gonzalez drove in a third run with another single. An inning later, Turner popped off the bench. He drilled a fastball from Padres left-hander Ryan Buchter into the second deck beyond left field. On the first pitch of the eighth inning, Kendrick took a slider from reliever Brandon Maurer over the center-field fence.
Roberts sent Louis Coleman out for the eighth. Coleman walked the leadoff batter, but retired the next two. With the tying run at second and Upton at the plate, Roberts pulled Coleman and turned to Jansen.
Before Friday, Jansen had not blown a save this season. He had never given up a walk-off homer in his life. But he could not solve Upton, who smoked a waist-high cutter into the gap between Joc Pederson and Puig. Pederson lunged for the ball. He came up empty, and Upton raced to third.
The Dodgers had a chance to reclaim the lead in the ninth. Puig led off with a single and took second on a wild pitch. Ellis laid down a bunt to advance him to third – except Puig decided not to run. The bunt pulled third baseman Yangervis Solarte away from the bag, and cleared a path for Puig. But he stayed at second. Ellis raised his arms in disbelief as Puig idled. “Come on!” he said. Crawford followed with a flyball to left, deep enough, theoretically, to score a man from third base.
RESULTS
Detroit     9     Tampa Bay     4
NY Mets     3     Milwaukee     1
Seattle     5     Cincinnati     4
Washington     8     Miami     2
Philadelphia     5     Atlanta     0
Boston     5     Cleveland     2
Chicago W Sox     3     Kansas City     2
Texas     9     Houston     2
Toronto     3     Minnesota     1
Arizona     7     St. Louis     2
LA Angels     10 Baltimore     2
NY Yankees     5     Oakland     4
LA Dodgers     9     San Diego     5
            (17 innings)
San Francisco     1     Chicago Cubs     0