Mookie Betts and Dodgers hitters rescue Tony Gonsolin in win over Padres
SAN DIEGO — The Dodgers’ rotation has needed a lot of rescuing lately.
Their starting pitchers will set dangerous early fires, threatening to blow up a game by struggling out of the gate.
But then the club’s high-powered lineup will swoop in to save them, dousing the flames with a stream of sudden offense.
It’s an exceedingly concerning habit, one likely to leave the Dodgers burned in the long run if it remains unaddressed.
For now, though, their streaking bats are compensating for their problematic pitching, saving the day again in the Dodgers’ 13-7 victory over the San Diego Padres on Monday.
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“Other teams could’ve just conceded and split the series,” manager Dave Roberts said, after his club took three of four games at Petco Park to move 11 games clear of the fourth-place Padres. “But to our credit we kept scratching, clawing, putting together good at-bats … We fought back.”
Early on, it looked as though right-hander Tony Gonsolin was on the verge of implosion.
After two clean innings to begin the day, Gonsolin gave up five runs in the bottom of the third — including four in a four-pitch sequence, when Luis Campusano launched a two-run homer, Trent Grisham and Ha-Seong hit consecutive first-pitch singles, and Fernando Tatis Jr. smoked a first-pitch two-run double before later scoring on a sacrifice fly.
“I made some mistakes,” Gonsolin said. “And they capitalized.”
As soon as Gonsolin trudged back to the dugout after the inning, however, the Dodgers’ offense roared to life.
In the top of the fourth, the team mounted an eight-run rally capped by a Mookie Betts grand slam.
In the sixth, they added five more runs to cruise to their 27th comeback win — and ninth in which they trailed by at least three runs in the first five innings.
“We just don’t give up,” said Betts, who collected his 31st home run and the Dodgers’ 11th grand slam of the season, tying a single-season franchise record. “Anything can happen at any given time and we all know that. We’ve been around for a while. And the young guys are kind of taking to it.”
Indeed, everyone in the Dodgers lineup contributed to Monday’s comeback.
Freddie Freeman started the fourth inning with a leadoff single, one his two hits to raise his batting average to .340.
After Max Muncy drew a one-out walk, David Peralta and Jason Heyward hit back-to-back doubles down the left-field line, plating the first three runs against Padres right-hander Seth Lugo.
From there, the Dodgers loaded the bases on a walk from Kiké Hernández (who also added a home run later in the day) and singles from James Outman (who went four for four with a walk) and Miguel Rojas (who drove in a run with a flare hit to shallow center).
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Then, Betts dropped the hammer, getting the green light on a 3-and-0 count and driving a center-cut fastball to the left-field stands.
“I don’t typically like swinging on 3-0,” Betts said. “I still see myself as a leadoff hitter and I’m supposed to get on base … But in that situation, I mean, especially with the momentum, I just felt we needed to try and score as many points as possible, and that was a good time to swing.”
It’s far from the first time the Dodgers have needed to dig out from an early deficit and stack runs quickly.
Entering Monday, the team ranked 25th in the majors in ERA over the first five innings of games. And after Gonsolin gave up six runs in his six-inning start, the rotation finished the day with a 4.66 ERA on the season, 11th-worst in the majors.
Gonsolin has been an increasingly large part of the starting pitching problems.
After earning his first All-Star selection during a career-best 2022 season, then posting a 1.93 ERA in his first nine starts this year, the 29-year-old has spiraled.
Monday was the seventh time in his last nine starts that Gonsolin surrendered at least four runs. It raised his ERA to 4.42, the highest it’s ever been (after at least three outings of a season) in his five-year career.
Before Monday’s game, Roberts alluded to unspecified “physical” issues that have impacted Gonsolin, who has dealt with elbow and shoulder injuries in the past, and missed the opening month of this season with a sprained ankle.
Gonsolin declined to elaborate postgame, but insisted that he has felt “pretty good” during his starts and that there are “no excuses” for his struggles.
“I’ve been throwing really good bullpens in between [starts] and feel like my catch play has been great,” Gonsolin said. “But for whatever reason, I come out here and get on the game mound and it’s a little bit different … It’s been really frustrating just with the results of whatever is happening not going in my favor.”
Yet, Gonsolin was still the pitcher of record Monday, getting credit for a victory after the Dodgers offense salvaged yet another game.
“It was a big third inning for those guys,” Roberts said. “And for us to respond the way we did and take it one at-bat at a time — I know it’s trite, but that plays in a major league season.”
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