It’s a battle of the top two teams in the National League West as they finish up a series on the diamond in southern California looking to pick up a victory. The Los Angeles Dodgers are on the road as they close out a three-game set with the San Diego Padres Thursday night. In the opening game of the series Tuesday night, it was the Padres picking up a 4-3 victory in 10 innings to try and help their playoff hopes. Will the Dodgers earn the victory in the finale of this series or can the Padres earn another victory to take another step toward a postseason berth? This article was published prior to the conclusion of the middle game of the series Wednesday night at Petco Park.
Los Angeles is just cruising toward the playoffs as they have locked down the top record in the National League, giving them home-field advantage for the entirety of the NL playoffs as long as they are in it. The Dodgers own a 20-game lead over the Padres entering Wednesday despite losing four of their last seven games. On Tuesday night, Los Angeles finished with six hits with Trea Turner (two runs) recording three of them while no other player had more than one. Tyler Anderson didn’t factor in the decision as he threw six innings, allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Craig Kimbrel (6-7) took the loss in relief as he allowed one run (none earned) on no hits with three walks and one strikeout in one-third of an inning.
The Dodgers are going with an opener for this contest but the bulk innings guy is slated to be Andrew Heaney, who logs his 15th appeara nce of the season in this contest. He comes in 3-3 with a 3.06 ERA, a 1.082 WHIP, 18 walks and 97 strikeouts over 64.2 innings of action this year. Heaney took the loss in his last start, which came against the Cardinals at home Friday. He threw 3.2 innings, allowing four runs on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts in a game the Dodgers lost 11-0. In his last three starts, Heaney is 1-1 with a 3.55 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP, five walks and 19 strikeouts over 12.2 innings of work. Heaney makes his fifth career start against the Padres in this contest. He comes in 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA, a 0.833 WHIP, six walks and 21 strikeouts over 24 innings of work against them. Heaney is 1-0 with a 2.19 ERA, a 0.811 WHIP, three walks and 12 strikeouts over 12.1 innings in two career starts at Petco Park.