July 7th, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka It was one of Dodgers right-hander Kenta Maeda‘s best outings of the season; near perfect, in fact.
…and then it wasn’t.
After not allowing a hit until a one-out single to San Diego Padres catcher Francisco Mejía in the fifth inning, and keeping the friars at bay until two outs in the top of the seventh, the 31-year-old Senboku-gun, Japan left an 84-mph slider a little too high and (new) perennial Dodger-killer Hunter Renfroe made him pay for his mistake by sending it 423 feet over the wall in straightaway center field.
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)
But a one run lead is nothing for the NL West come-from-behind / walk-off Dodgers, right?
Under most circumstances, yes. But Padres right-hander Chris Paddack had other ideas. The 23-year-old Austin, TX native was every bit as effective as was Maeda by allowing no runs and only three hits, while walking one and striking out six over his stellar 5.2 innings of work. And although Padres right-handed reliever Craig Stammen would eventually give up a seventh-inning RBI single to Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, the Padres bullpen of right-hander Trey Wingenter, Stammen, and All-Star closer Kirby Yates were absolutely brilliant, allowing a combined one run on six hits, with one walk and eight strikeouts.
But it was Maeda’s second mistake of the night that did he – and the Dodgers – in.
With two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Maeda left an 84-mph slider right over the middle of the plate that Padres center fielder Manuel Margot did not miss for a devastating game-winning two-run home run that just cleared the wall in left field.
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)
“I did misplace those two pitches,” Maeda said through an interpreter. “The one against Renfroe was up and I was trying to get a swing and a miss. The one to Margot, I was trying to get a swing. I looked at the video and it didn’t break as much as I imagined.”
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)
“I thought [Maeda] threw the ball really well across the board,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after the eventual 3-1 loss. “He made two mistakes and, unfortunately, they were homers. But to go deep into the [eighth] inning, he threw a great baseball game.”
Near perfect, in fact.
…but it wasn’t.
Play Ball!
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That Renfroe HR I could live with…but that one to Margot with 2-out and 2 strikes really knocked the air out of the ballpark crowd, mainly because of that THIRD mistake Maeda made just prior (and the biggest one for me): making a poor throw to Muncy at 2B which cost him an inning-ending DP. That said, he’s not the sole reason why the Dodgers lost last night. Offense for the second straight night was MIA, as if they were already looking forward to the break. Tempting I must admit, being as far up in the division standings as they are with the other teams not really gaining any real ground on ’em of late. Praying today they’ll at least send the Dodger Stadium faithful home happy with an outpouring of runs that were bottled up for just such an occasion and cap off this incredible 1st half on a winning note for a change…
Yes, it was a very good outing by Maeda, one of his best. Too bad the reigning National League Champion Dodgers couldn’t do much with the brilliant pitching of the Padres. Like we all know, they can’t win them all. Still atop of the standings by 14 1/2 games, though.