LDN - Sports

Maeda fans 13 as Dodgers down Padres

[July 11, 2016] LOS ANGELES -- Pitching backwards enabled right-hander Kenta Maeda to record his most dominant performance of the season.

Maeda amassed a season-high 13 strikeouts and allowed just two hits in seven innings to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 3-1 win over the San Diego Padres on Sunday at Dodger Stadium.

Los Angeles won the final three games of the four-game series to enter the All-Star break with 18 victories in the past 26 contests.

"The guys are in a good place," Dodgers second baseman Howie Kendrick said. "The second half is where you want to have everybody rolling and on the same page. Going into the second half, I don't think we could ask to be in a better spot."

Maeda (8-6) struck out six consecutive batters at one point, retired 13 of the first 14 he faced, permitted no walks and conceded just one run -- on Derek Norris' 12th home run of the season. The right-hander pitched seven innings for the first time since April 17.

Instead of relying on his fastball as his main pitch, Maeda established his curveball and his slider early.

"He pitched us backwards all day," Padres manager Andy Green said. "We chased off-speed pitches out of the strike zone, and we didn't seem to make the adjustment. He'd spin up early, go hard inside late and mix in his fastball periodically. We were really unable to sit on the fastball and take advantage of it."

Catcher Yasmani Grandal had a different view of Maeda's approach.

"It seemed like everything played off his fastball," catcher Yasmani Grandal said. "He threw his fastball a little more than in his last start, and we got more than a couple of strikeouts on the fastball. Then he was the same old Kenta: throwing curveballs for strikes, throwing sliders for strikes. But we kept them honest with the fastball."

Despite ranking third in the major leagues with 5.7 runs per game at one point, the Padres managed just four runs and six hits in the past two games while striking out 30 times.

"We were listless offensively," Green said. "We had opportunities to square balls up and didn't. It's a by-product of hitting so well. Teams go back to the drawing board and try something different to figure out how to get you out."

Maeda and reliever Joe Blanton retired 11 successive hitters between the fifth and the eighth innings before San Diego brought the potential winning run to the plate in the ninth against closer Kenley Jansen.

Pinch hitter Travis Jankowski began the ninth with a broken-bat infield single, and Melvin Upton Jr. walked. Jansen then struck out Wil Myers and Matt Kemp before inducing a flyout from Yangervis Solarte to earn his 27th save.

Kendrick had three of the Dodgers' 10 hits, and Adrian Gonzalez contributed his seventh home run of the season.

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Dodgers starting pitcher Kenta Maeda (18) pitches against the San Diego Padres during the second inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning against left-hander Christian Friedrich. Kendrick lined a double past a motionless Solarte at third base and scored when Corey Seager lined a single off Friedrich and into center field.

The Dodgers added their second run in the second inning. Grandal and Scott Van Slyke began with singles, but Solarte threw to shortstop Alexei Ramirez to retire Grandal at third base on Maeda's attempted sacrifice. Van Slyke took second base on the play and came home when Kendrick lined a single off the glove of a leaping Ramirez.

Maeda retired nine successive Padres before Norris broke the shutout in the top of the fifth. Norris propelled Maeda's first pitch, a 71 mph curveball, halfway up the left field bleachers.

Gonzalez responded in the bottom of the fifth with his own solo homer to extend the Dodgers' lead to 3-1. Left fielder Alex Dickerson almost made a leaping catch of Gonzalez's drive, but the ball just missed the top of his glove and hit the top of the fence.

Friedrich (4-5) collected seven strikeouts in five innings and issued just one walk but allowed three runs on seven hits.

NOTES: San Diego CF Melvin Upton Jr. is on pace to become the second player in team history to finish a season with at least 20 home runs and 30 stolen bases. Upton has 16 homers and 20 steals entering the All-Star break. Reggie Sanders hit 26 home runs and stole 36 bases in 1999. ... The Dodgers own the best bullpen ERA at the break, 2.83. ... Los Angeles SS Corey Seager needs just two home runs to tie Hanley Ramirez's team record for the most at the position. Ramirez hit 19 homers in 2013. ... Dodgers LHP Julio Urias, now at Triple-A Oklahoma City, will spend most of the rest of the season as a reliever to limit his workload and increase his versatility. The 19-year-old Urias, who has never thrown more than 87 2/3 innings in any one season, already has pitched 77 1/3 innings this year.

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