Kenley Jansen blows save, Dodgers edge Padres in extras

A wild throw cost Kenley Jansen a save, but a wild throw was also the reason why the Dodgers earned the 6-4 victory over the Padres.

Jansen came in to pitch the ninth inning behind a 4-3 lead. The leadoff batter got to second base on a blooper that fell just out of Chris Taylor’s reach. After getting the next batter to line out to right field, which moved the runner to third base, Jansen threw a wild pitch to allow Francisco Mejia to score from third base. It became Jansen’s seventh blown save of the year — tied for his career high — and the third of the month.

This tied the game at four runs apiece, forcing the game into extra innings.

The Dodgers took advantage of every opportunity to score in the 10th inning. Kiké Hernández drew a 2-out walk and proceeded to steal second base. Luckily he made this move, because SD shortstop Luis Urías made a throwing error on a Russell Martin ground ball. It was way off, which allowed Hernández to score the winning run.

AJ Pollock’s RBI base hit was just an insurance run, which (how after this game almost ended) is always nice to have.

The team didn’t need this extra run after all, since Casey Sadler shut down the Padres in order in the first save opportunity of his career.

All this came behind Maeda’s good start where he even contributed on the offense. He got off to a tough start, allowing two earned runs to score in the first inning. The right hander started the inning by dishing a leadoff walk to Greg Garcia, who eventually made his way to third base after a wild pitch. Manny Machado drew a walk to put runners on at the corners for Eric Hosmer. Hosmer singled to right field, which allowed Garcia to score and Machado to move to third. The former Dodgers third baseman scored via Hunter Renfroe’s sacrifice fly.

After this inning, Maeda tightened up his pitching game and only allowed two more base runners in the rest of his outing. But it’s not the only game he stepped up on Wednesday night. He got a key hit in the second inning, getting a bases loaded single to drive in two run and giving the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.

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Padres slugger Eric Hosmer sent a fly ball over the left field fence for a solo home run, inching the Friars just a little closer to tying the game. It was the fifth homer Pedro Báez gave up this season.

Joe Kelly continued to do do damage against his opponents in his one inning relief appearance. He did allow a walk, but he also dealt one strikeouts and did not allow a hit.

Max Muncy removed from game

Padres reliever Matt Strahm hit Max Muncy by a pitch in the fifth inning, causing him to leave the game. He does have a right wrist contusion, but it doesn’t look to be too serious right now.

Wednesday particulars

WP: Kenley Jansen (4-3), 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 1 K

LP: Kirby Yates (0-5), ²⁄₃ IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

SV: Casey Sadler (1), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 2 K

Home runs: Eric Hosmer (20)

Box score

Up next

The Dodgers head east to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks in a 4-game set. Hyun-Jin Ryu will open up the series for the Dodgers starting pitchers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. PT.

Correction: A previous version of this article contained incorrect details about the ninth inning. It has since been updated.