Dodgers find offense, but no defense for Padres sweep

Jake Cronenworth drove a ball to right field that Matt Beaty took a circuitous route on, then had go off his glove for a double.

Manny Machado followed with a ground ball to third baseman Justin Turner, who in trying to look Cronenworth back to second took too much time in throwing to first.

Victor Gonzalez was brought in, and after a sacrifice bunt put both runners in scoring position, Roberts intentionally walked Wil Myers to load the bases.

Cronenworth homered in all three games of the series, including one in the first inning in each of the last two nights.

Then came a gift from Fernando Tatis Jr., who made an ill-advised throw, trying for a double play that wasn’t going to happen.

Outside of that rally, the Dodgers were hitless through the seventh inning, and nearly had Machado snuff out all three outs of the eighth.

The Padres nearly re-took the lead before Caratini’s home run, but a fateful bounce intervened.

Myers was on base via walk, one of four free passes from Bauer on the night.

You try to attack the other team and win, and when you don’t have that mindset you get rolled.

“I know our guys came to play to win every night.

Wednesday was the 10th game in which Bauer has faced Machado, dating back to their days in Cleveland and Baltimore, respectively, beginning in 2014.

In their last meeting, back on April 24 this year in Los Angeles, Bauer tried a new strategy, throwing nothing but sliders in his 13 pitches to his nemesis.

On Wednesday, Bauer carried over that strategy into the first inning, when he threw nothing but sliders again to Machado.

“It’s my best matchup pitch against him, and I had success with it last time,” Bauer explained.

Bauer changed course in the fourth inning, throwing a four-seam fastball and two sinkers to strike out Machado on three pitches.

The Dodgers return home to face the Cubs for a four-game series beginning Thursday night with Walker Buehler on the mound in the opener.

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