Padres blow 3-run lead and lose to Dodgers 8-6
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ian Kennedy is starting to feel more comfortable after a recent oblique injury. He just didn’t show it against the first-place Dodgers.
The right-hander notched his 11th loss in the San Diego Padres’ 8-6 defeat Tuesday night, allowing six runs — five earned — on seven hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked two.
“The last two starts my oblique’s been feeling really good, but these have been the worst two outings since the oblique,” Kennedy said. “It’s the time of the season where you’ve got to get through it.”
He missed a turn in the rotation with a minor oblique strain last month.
“Ian’s stuff was good, but he ran some deep counts, and from my perspective, he didn’t really have consistent secondary pitches,” Padres manager Bud Black said. “The curve, the slider and the changeup overall weren’t as good as we’ve seen Ian throw.”
On the final play of the game, Black challenged a call that ruled Abraham Almonte out at third on a tag play. Yasiel Puig hit Adrian Gonzalez with the cutoff throw to keep the tying run at first and Gonzalez fired to third as Almonte was diving back to the bag.
“I saw it a little bit late and I stopped,” Almonte said. “It was a close play. It was tough to say from the replay if I was safe or out. When he tagged me, I’m sure my hand was on the bag.”
The Padres led 3-0 in the first on Jedd Gyorko’s three-run homer.
“As hard as we fought and as well as we swung the bats, the mistakes really came back to hurt us and it added up to a tough loss,” Black said. “You look at a couple of ill-advised walks, you look at a couple of misplays, both in the outfield and the infield, and those plays came back to haunt us.”
Carl Crawford hit a two-run homer with two outs in the seventh and Justin Turner drove in two runs and scored another pair to help the Dodgers end a three-game skid.
The Dodgers have won six of their last seven against the Padres, and improved to 8-3 against their NL West rival this season.
Former Padre Kevin Correia (2-0) allowed four runs and eight hits over five innings in his Dodger Stadium debut. The right-hander struck out six and walked one while making his second start since being acquired from Minnesota on Aug. 9. He replaced Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is on the disabled list.
Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his 35th save, although his throwing error on a bunt single led to a run.
PADRES MOVES
They optioned pitcher Jesse Hahn to Double-A San Antonio to give his arm a rest. He missed the 2010 season after having Tommy John surgery and has pitched a combined 110 1/3 innings for San Antonio and the Padres this season. He will return when rosters expand on Sept. 1. To take Hahn’s roster spot, the Padres called up pitcher Frank Garces from San Antonio and he made his major league debut in the eighth.
PADRES SCOUTING
The team hired Don Welke as vice president of scouting operations, reuniting him with new GM and longtime friend A.J. Preller. The 71-year-old spent parts of the last eight seasons with Texas, where he was most recently senior special assistant to the GM. He began his scouting career with Cincinnati in 1965.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: Pitcher Andrew Cashner (right shoulder soreness) will be reinstated from the disabled list this weekend and return to the rotation. The right-hander is 2-6 with a 2.36 ERA in 12 starts.
Dodgers: Infielder Juan Uribe, on the disabled list with a hamstring injury, is feeling better and will work indoors for a couple of days. Pitcher Josh Beckett, on the DL with a torn labrum, will let his muscle heal before he starts a throwing program to see if can handle it.
ON DECK
Padres: Left-hander Eric Stults (5-13, 4.64 ERA) takes the mound. He has limited the opposition to a .222 batting average over his last 10 starts since June 17 at Seattle.
Dodgers: Roberto Hernandez (7-8, 3.72 ERA) has faced the Padres once in his career on May 12, 2013, when he was with Tampa Bay. He is 3-5 in 12 career starts against the NL West.
