It took five days, six hours and 35 innings, but the Dodgers finally got a run on Friday. Andre Ethier hit an RBI double in the fifth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers finally scored a run, beating the San Diego Padres 2-1.
It's been almost a week since the baseball god's switched off the power switch on the Boys in Blue, but Joc Pederson turned it back on in the bottom of the eighth when he launched a game-winning solo shot into the right field pavilion to snap the Dodgers three-game losing streak.
Pederson sent an 0-2 fastball off Joaquin Benoit into the right field pavilion to break a 1-1 tie and snap the Dodgers longest losing streak of the season at three games.
"We've had runners in scoring position the last few days and no one really came through," Pederson said. "I was just trying to help the team win a game."
Pederson overcame the odds after falling in the hole early to Benoit. Typically, Pederson strikes out more than half the time he falls behind in the count this season.
"You've seen my strikeouts," Pederson laughed when asked if he has been shortening his swing with two strikes in the count.
Zack Greinke started the game and was dominant as ever as he allowed just one run on six hits in 7 2/3 innings. He lowered his ERA to 1.52 and has looked like the ace of the staff out pitching reigning Cy Young winner and teammate Clayton Kershaw through the first two months of the season.
"My last inning wasn't ideal," Greinke said. "But the first seven felt good."
Ethier snapped the Dodgers 35 inning scoreless streak in the bottom half of the fifth inning with an RBI double to right field that scored Justin Turner. The 35-innings without scoring a run tied the 1962 Dodgers for the longest stretch in franchise history.
The Padres tied the game in the top of the seventh after a one-out double by Derek Norris. Will Venable singled up to the middle and Norris just barely beat the throw at the plate to tie the score at 1-1.
Norris has been feasting on Dodgers pitching this season. The newly acquired San Diego catcher is batting .357 against Los Angeles with four doubles, a homer and 5 RBI.
Yasmani Grandal left the game in the fifth inning after being hit in the head by the bat of a Padres hitter and then by a foul ball that went off his mask. Grandal is leading the league with a .396 batting average in the month of May.
"Zack was amazing today," said Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis who replaced Grandal behind the plate. "Unfortunately with Yaz getting hurt, I had to come in there and take over where they left off."
Chris Hatcher (1-0) relieved Greinke with two outs in the 8th inning and made one pitch to end the inning. It was Hatcher's first career win in the major leagues and it took him just one pitch to get it.
Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth to earn his second save of the season.
Andrew Cashner pitched well in his start for San Diego allowing one run (unearned) on five hits over six innings. Cashner is winless against Los Angeles in his last three starts and San Diego has lost three in a row overall.
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