The National League West first-place Dodgers managed only five hits against the National League West second-place San Diego Padres on Thursday night in front of a sold out Dodger Stadium crowd 53,094. Three of those hits were by popular Dodgers third baseman and unofficial team captain Justin Turner, including two home runs. It was the 13th multi-home-run game in the Long Beach CA native’s now 14-year MLB career and led to an exciting 3-1 Dodgers win over the Padres to give them a precarious 2.5-game lead over them in the division.

“It was a great night,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after the game. “We’ve said it all along that Justin, in big moments, big spots, he knows how to drive in a run. This was a big game, and he rose to the occasion like we’ve seen many times before. Tonight was his night.”

In addition to his two home runs, which came in the second and seventh innings respectively, Turner also singled in the fifth inning.

But when your team puts up only five hits against a very good team, you better play some good – great – defense, and the Dodgers did exactly that, including an outstanding catch and throw by Dodgers right fielder Chris Taylor with the bases loaded and one out in the top half of the second inning to complete a rare 9-2 inning-ending double play.

“Definitely is feeling stronger as the year progresses,” Taylor said postgame about his very noticeable improved play in the outfield. “It still has its little peaks and valleys, but compared to where we were a couple months ago, there’s no way I would have been able to make that throw.”

“You miss Mookie (Betts) a lot, but I don’t know if Mookie could have done a better job on that play right there,” Roberts said. “That was a game-changing play.”

Game-changing indeed, and it seemed to take a bit of wind out of the Padres’ sail. But it’s a four-game series and we are not yet to the halfway point of the season, and you can bet that Bob Melvin‘s Padres aren’t about to rest on their laurels and pout about Thursday night’s loss to the Dodgers in what, to this point, is the single-biggest series of the Dodgers – and Padres – 2022 regular season.

Play Ball!

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