Fernando Tatis Jr. appeared as the cleanup hitter for the San Diego Padres for the second time in three games. He seems to be adjusting to his new spot in the lineup, for now, as he recorded two hits in two plate appearances in San Diego’s 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, Ariz. on Sunday.
Tatis came to the plate with two outs and Manny Machado at first base following a walk in the bottom of the first inning. He singled to right field to move Machado to second, but the inning ended on a Jake Cronenworth flyout to Dodgers center fielder Michael Siani.
Tatis returned to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning and lined a ball to right field with one out in the inning, giving him his second hit of the game. The inning ended one batter later when Cronenworth grounded into a double play.
It was a tough day for the Padres outside of Tatis. They managed just three additional hits in the game with two of those coming in the bottom of the eighth inning when San Diego scored its lone run. Nick Solak hit a two-out double to left field that landed just beyond the glove of an outstretched Josue De Paula. Clay Dungan followed with an infield single that was thrown up the rightfield line allowing him to reach second base, making the score 4-1.
Los Angeles scored its fifth run of the game in the top of the ninth inning with three singles off reliever Ty Adcock. The Dodgers scored their first four runs in the top of the third inning against Triston McKenzie, who was making his debut with the Padres.
McKenzie walked two of the first three batters he faced and then allowed a one-out single to Will Smith that put Los Angeles ahead 1-0. McKenzie recorded a strikeout for the second out of the inning, but then allowed a double to Nick Senzel, which scored two runs to give Los Angeles a 3-0 lead. That ended the day for McKenzie, who was replaced by Michael Flynn. He did not fare much better and immediately threw a wild pitch, allowing Senzel to move to third base. Flynn then walked a batter and hit a batter to load the bases. The Dodgers scored their fourth run of the inning, which was charged to McKenzie, on another walk allowed by Flynn. He induced a pop out by Siani with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Randy Vasquez started on the mound for the Padres and completed two innings. He allowed one hit, one walk and 23 of his 31 pitches went for strikes.
The Padres host the Milwaukee Brewers at 12:10 p.m. on Monday.