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Sports Aug 06, 2022
| Photo courtesy of Dez Hester/Unsplash
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The Los Angeles Dodgers will seek to extend their six-game winning streak when they face the San Diego Padres Saturday evening at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers have had six winning streaks of at least six games this season, topped by an eight-game streak from July 13-24, as they have compiled Major League Baseball’s best record, 73-33. They lead the New York Yankees (70- 37) by 3 1/2 games in the race for home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
The Dodgers have a season-high 13 1/2-game lead over the Padres in the National League West. San Diego (61-48) is second in the race for the National League’s three wild-card playoff berths, 1 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee, Philadelphia and St. Louis, who are tied for the third wild-card berth.
The Dodgers are 6-2 against the Padres in 2022 and 15-2 since getting swept in a three-game series at Petco Park June 21-23, 2021.
Left-hander Andrew Heaney (1-0) will start for the Dodgers against right-hander Mike Clevinger (3-3).
Heaney has missed most of the season due to left shoulder inflammation. He was on the injured list from April 20-June 19 and June 24-July 27.
Heaney has a 1.13 ERA in eight innings in his two starts since his most recent stint on the injured list, including allowing one run and four hits in four innings in Monday’s 8-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants in a game the Dodgers led 6-1 when he was removed before the start of the bottom of the fifth inning.
Heaney will be facing San Diego for the third time in his nine-season MLB career. He has a 1-0 record with 1.26 ERA in 14 1/3 innings against the Padres.
Clevinger has also been on the injured list twice this season, April 14-May 3 due to a right knee sprain and May 22-June 17 because of a right triceps strain.
Clevinger allowed one run and five hits in seven innings in his most recent start, a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday.
The Dodgers are 4-1 in Heaney’s five starts, while San Diego is 8-3 in Clevinger’s 11 starts.
The 6:10 p.m. game will be televised by SportsNet LA.
The Dodgers were 8-1 winners over the Padres on Friday night in the opener of the three-game series as Tony Gonsolin and three relievers combined on a four-hitter, holding San Diego scoreless until the ninth inning. The Dodgers scored four runs in both the first and third innings off left-hander Sean Manaea.
“We got some pitches to hit, some balls on the line, doubles, good at-bats,” catcher Will Smith, who had three of the Dodgers’ 12 hits, including a first-inning single that drove in their first two runs, told SportsNet LA.
The game was the Dodgers’ first at Dodger Stadium since Vin Scully’s death Tuesday at the age of 94. The team paid tribute to their beloved legendary broadcaster before the game.
The Dodgers and Padres were lined up along the third- and first-base lines for a moment of silence followed by a tribute video played on the stadium’s message board. The entire Dodgers team then huddled around the mound, watching another tribute video of Scully, which included photos with some current and former Dodgers players and broadcasters.
Manager Dave Roberts then addressed the sellout crowd announced at 52,714.
“Vin, as he’s looking down on us right now, hated the spotlight on him. This is going to be very uncomfortable for him because this moment right now he really deserved,” Roberts said. “Vin was a man of character, integrity, class, a true gentleman. He just wasn’t a Dodger. He loved the game of baseball that we all love and care about.”
Roberts recalled that during the final game Scully broadcast at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 25, 2016, a banner hung from Scully’s broadcast booth saying “I’ll miss you.” Dodgers broadcasters Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser then unveiled a banner from the booth saying, “Vin, we’ll miss you!” followed by a blue heart.
“Vin, you will be missed,” Roberts said. “We love you. We’ll think about you every day. Every day we come here, every fan that shows up to Dodger Stadium, you’ll always be remembered, you’ll always be linked to these five words, ‘It’s time for Dodger baseball.”‘
Roberts then exhorted the crowd to get on their feet and “on the count of three, yell as loud as you can, ‘It’s time for Dodger baseball’ so Mr. Vin can hear us from blue heaven.”
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