LOS ANGELES — As the Dodgers have started to square away their 2023 postseason plans this week, they were rocked by visions of October 2022.
The latest evidence of the Dodgers’ bumpy September came Wednesday night when they were held to one hit over six dominant innings by San Diego Padres ace Blake Snell and fell, 6-1, in the deciding game of a three-game series.
Kolten Wong allowed the Dodgers to avoid the shutout with a leadoff home run in the ninth inning.
The Padres won two of the three games in their visit to Dodger Stadium after winning just twice in the first 10 meetings this season between the teams. It was not a series the Dodgers expected to lose, making the comparison to last October inevitable, even if the stakes were far lower.
The Padres knocked the Dodgers out of the National League Division Series last season by winning three of the first four games of a best-of-five series.
The postseason is fading from the Padres’ grasp this season, but they looked the part of a contender this week with an offensive eruption to pull off an 11-8 victory on Monday then watching Snell (14-9, MLB-best 2.43 ERA) bolster his NL Cy Young Award case with his gem Wednesday.
The Dodgers are now just 5-7 this month after going 24-5 in August.
Their magic number to clinch a 10th NL West title in 11 seasons is at four, with a champagne party a possibility this weekend during a three-game series that begins Friday in Seattle.
Soto hit a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning to win Monday’s game, and his first-inning homer Wednesday put San Diego ahead, 1-0.
Dodgers right-hander Ryan Pepiot took a perfect game into the seventh inning last week in Miami, but his no-hitter and shutout were gone three batters into his most recent appearance.
The Padres made it 4-0 in the third inning when Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled, Soto singled and Luis Campusano hit a three-run home run to left.
San Diego’s lead grew to 6-0 in the seventh inning on a bases-loaded, broken-bat two-run single by Tatis, with both runs charged to right-hander Joe Kelly, who walked the first two batters he faced while making his return from a bout with forearm inflammation.
Pepiot gave up four runs on six hits over six innings without walking a batter. He had five strikeouts on 90 pitches. Over his first four major league appearances this season, he gave up two runs in 21 innings.
Wong’s home run was his second since joining the Dodgers on Aug. 9 and his fourth in 75 total games this season.
The Padres won without Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, who both got the night off. Machado homered twice in Monday’s game.
More to come on this story.
