The Dodgers were shut out while the Padres rallied for nine runs to win the rubber match.
First things first….Matt Kemp won his appeal to reduce his suspension to two games instead of four after last Tuesday’s brawl with Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba. Kemp then had to begin his suspension today. Torre didn’t want both Kemp’s and Russell Martin’s bats out of the lineup, so Torre started Martin as Kuroda’s battery mate instead of the scheduled Danny Ardoin. Torre also added that Martin will still play all three games in the weekend series in Detroit.
Torre’s decision to add offensive power by starting Martin didn’t have an effect, as the Dodgers were held to just five hits for the game, and got only three through six innings off Padres starter Jake Peavy. The win improves Peavy’s record to 5-3 and 12-1 lifetime against the Dodgers. The team went 0 for 5 with RISP, which makes them 0 for 12 with RISP in their last two games.
Hiroki Kuroda sunk the Dodgers in a 0-5 hole after giving up five runs in the first inning. Kuroda allowed the first six Padres batters to reach base, including giving up back-to-back homeruns, a three-run shot to Brian Giles followed by a solo shot to Adrian Gonzalez. He was pulled in the third and was tagged for his sixth earned run of the game to set his ERA at a season-high 4.04. Chan-Ho Park finished the inning and the next two before Hong-Chih Kuo gave the Padres one in seventh and Scott Proctor gave up two more runs in the eighth.
The Dodgers have now dropped three of four and haven’t seen a series win in almost a month. The team begins a six-game road trip, beginning with the Tigers in Detroit for Interleague Play.
