The San Diego Padres were rolling—until they met the reigning World Series champs.
San Diego entered this weekend’s series vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers having won 14 of its last 17 games. Oh, and they held the division lead at the latest point of a season in nearly 15 years, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell.
But the Padres looked stale in one of their most important series of the season, getting outscored 14-6 (-8) in front of a raucous crowd at Dodger Stadium. With its win on Saturday, Los Angeles now holds the head-to-head tiebreaker, too.
Still, the team is confident in its ability to bounce back.
“The body of work says whatever the record’s been consistently,” manager Mike Shildt said, via Cassavell. “... If you think we’re going to look at three games and get overly concerned about it? Are we disappointed? Absolutely. I won’t minimize that. But it just only strengthens our resolve. The confidence in our team, amongst this team within ourselves, is very strong.”
Star outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr., who went 3-for-11 in the series with a pair of doubles, notes that there’s a golden opportunity to strengthen their bid in the division race.
“We’re still aiming to win the division, and we’re going to face them next week,” he said. “So, a lot of baseball left. With this team, we can do anything.”
This time around, the Padres will face Los Angeles on their home turf at Petco Park from Aug. 22-24. But first, San Diego’s seven-game homestand begins tonight against the San Francisco Giants, who the Padres swept only last week.