LOS ANGELES — Fully vaccinated fans sat shoulder to shoulder in two loge sections of Dodger Stadium on Saturday night, the first time since 2019 everyone wasn’t required to practice social distancing.
The question was whether the Los Angeles Dodgers would give those 500 fans in vaccination nation something to high-five strangers about or turn in another stinker, prompting folks to leave early and give new meaning to the term touch-and-go.
The Dodgers had lost four of five amid a historic batting funk. Their 23 hits over the previous six games were their fewest in a six-game stretch since 1909 when their predecessors, the Brooklyn Superbas, collected just 21 in baseball’s dead-ball era.
Saturday’s game against San Diego, however, produced hold-onto-your-seat interest, with the Dodgers defeating the Padres 5-4 to even the season series at 3-3 with another game Sunday.
“Fun baseball game and it took 27 outs to beat that team tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Some of it was familiar: Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. hit two home runs for the second game in a row. The Dodgers squandered scoring opportunities as they had during losses to the Padres on Thursday and Friday.
And Padres starter Blake Snell was lifted with a lead in the sixth inning — only to watch with dismay while his bullpen surrendered the lead, just as he was in Game 6 of the World Series last October when he pitched for Tampa Bay and the Dodgers defeated the Rays.
Other developments seemed revelatory: Dodgers starter Trevor Bauer neutralized Padres nemesis Manny Machado by feeding him a steady diet of sliders. The Padres stole five bases. The three-run Dodgers rally in the sixth that put them ahead by two was sparked by their first two pinch-hits of the season, by Chris Taylor and Matt Beaty.
And there was much-maligned Kenley Jansen, pitching the Dodgers out of a jam in the eighth inning and setting the Padres down in the ninth — including getting Tatis to ground out with a runner at second and striking out Trent Grisham to end it with a runner at third.
“The way (the Padres) are playing us, it’s like the playoffs, the fans are rocking, just like a playoff atmosphere,” Jansen told Sports-Net LA.
Eventually, the Dodgers will get back to crushing the ball. And eventually, many more fans will be allowed to watch without social distancing. Dodgers President Stan Kasten said more fully vaccinated sections could be added by the next homestand May 11.
“It’s another marker on the road to normal, which we hope is sometime in June,” Kasten said.
L.A. County is moving steadily to the least-restrictive yellow tier of the state’s economic reopening blueprint, which would allow Dodger Stadium to open to 67% of capacity. For Dodgers fans — as well as society at large — that would be a tier of joy.
The crowd of about 15,000 saw a taut affair with a playoff feel that began on a theatrical note. Tatis led off the game with a home run, and as he rounded first base he turned to the Padres dugout and covered an eye with his hand, presumably referencing Bauer’s occasionally pitching with one eye closed.
Tatis homered again off Bauer to lead off the sixth and put San Diego ahead 3-2. By Tatis’ standards, his trot around the bases this time was muted. His bat flip was a touch grandiose, and, yes, he again did a moon walk as he approached third. And, of course, he thumped his chest and pointed to the sky upon touching the plate.
“I’m all for it. I think it’s important for the game to move in that direction instead of throwing at guys for showing emotion,” Bauer said of Tatis’ antics.
The Dodgers tied the score in the bottom of the inning on a bases-loaded walk by Mookie Betts and went ahead on a two-run single by Corey Seager.
Missing Cody Bellinger
With Betts making every play in center field and rookie Zach McKinstry contributing a potent bat until going on the injured list Friday, it’d be easy to conclude the Dodgers haven’t been adversely affected by the absence of Cody Bellinger for the last 16 games.
A look at the cleanup spot in the lineup tells a different story.
Bellinger batted fourth until his injury, with Roberts starting the season with a right, left, right, left top of the lineup with Betts followed by Seager, Justin Turner and Bellinger. Since Bellinger sustained the hairline fracture in his leg, right-handed hitting Will Smith and left-handed hitting Max Muncy have shared the cleanup spot.
Neither has flourished, although Smith went two for four with a double Saturday to make him seven for 35 (.200) with one home run and two RBIs batting fourth. Muncy has fared similarly, going five for 22 (.227).
Corey Knebel’s injury is serious
Dodgers reliever Corey Knebel is expected to be out “months” with a lat injury, Roberts said, adding that an MRI exam indicated the latissimus dorsi muscle did not tear and that surgery would not be needed.
“Our expectation is that he will pitch again for us this year,” Roberts said.
Knebel and reliever Dennis Santana, feeling ill after getting a vaccine shot, went on the injured list. Beaty and left-hander Garrett Cleavinger were called up.
