April 16, 2021: Padres use all their players, lose 11-6 to Dodgers in 12 innings

The pandemic-limited Friday night crowd of 15,2501 at Petco Park on April 16, 2021, was ready to watch the resumption of the National League West Division rivalry between the San Diego Padres (9-5) and the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers (11-2). The Dodgers had won the 2020 World Series after a three-game sweep of the Padres in the NL Division Series. It wasn’t just the fans who were focused—Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game “Yeah, it felt like a rivalry tonight.”2 Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer was looking forward as well, “Obviously having a little bit of history with them in the postseason last year, maybe that’ll spice things up a bit.”3

Hosmer got his spice, Roberts got his rivalry, and the fans got their money’s worth: a down-to-the-last-strike comeback, extra innings, 40 players, a hitter’s first major-league home run, and a benches-clearing kerfuffle. Oh, and some weird baseball—by the end of the game, a position player was pitching to a relief pitcher who flied out to a pitcher playing left field.

Before the game, the Padres honored Joe Musgrove, a native of nearby El Cajon, California, for pitching the first no-hitter in the franchise’s 53-season history the previous week.4 Of course he had no idea that almost five hours later he’d be playing left field.

San Diego pitcher Ryan Weathers (1-0, 1.50 ERA) was making the first start of his career.5 Mookie Betts walked to lead off the game but was erased when Corey Seager grounded into a double play. Justin Turner popped out to quickly end the inning.

Walker Buehler (also 1-0, 1.50 ERA) took the mound for the Dodgers. He allowed a leadoff single to Trent Grisham, struck out Fernando Tatis, Jr., and induced a double play to end the inning.

Weathers allowed two baserunners, but no scoring, in the second inning.

The Padres put the game’s first run on the board in their half of the second. Manny Machado singled, stole second, and took third on a lineout to right. After Jurickson Profar’s two-out walk put runners on first and third, rookie catcher Luis Campusano6 singled, scoring Machado.

Neither team scored in the third or fourth inning. Weathers was finished at 79 pitches after two outs in the fourth. For the first time in the game, Padres manager Jayce Tingler called his bullpen; Pierce Johnson got the third out on one pitch and then was out of the game.

The Dodgers tied the game in the top of the fifth on rookie Luke Raley’s first major-league home run, off Dan Altavilla,7 San Diego’s third pitcher of the night. The Padres took the lead back in the bottom of the frame on Tatis’s solo 410-foot homer. That was a welcome sight for Padres fans, since this was Tatis’s first game back after a stay on the Injured List for left shoulder issues.8

Keone Kela pitched the top of the sixth for the Padres—this was his seventh relief appearance in 2021, and he still had a pristine 0.00 ERA. Alas, that didn’t last. It started with Turner’s one-out single and Will Smith’s walk. Max Muncy grounded into a force at second base, leaving runners on first and third.

Chris Taylor grounded between second and third. Shortstop Tatis dove, grabbed the ball and attempted to throw it to second base but missed the target completely. By the time Hosmer had retrieved the ball after it had caromed off the wall behind first base, Turner had scored and Muncy was heading home. Hosmer threw to the plate too late to catch the sliding Muncy. Taylor reached third on the play.

Zach McKinstry struck out, but that didn’t end the inning since he’d swung at a wild pitch that headed for the dugout. McKinstry arrived safely at first while Taylor dashed in to score. Kela finally ended the inning by striking out Raley, but the Dodgers led, 4-2.

Buehler held the score in the bottom of the sixth, ending his outing at 93 pitches.

Emilio Pagán, next in the Padres’ reliever corps, walked Seager but that was all in the top of the seventh.

Facing the Dodgers’ Blake Treinen, the Padres drew within a run in their half of the seventh. Ha-Seong Kim9 hit a one-out single and stole second, and Grisham walked. Tatis grounded into a force out at second, but the play wasn’t over. Kim was able to score on a bad throw from shortstop McKinstry—he threw past first, almost into the camera well. Victor González took over from Treinen and got the last out.

The Dodgers added to their lead in the top of the eighth. Austin Adams started the inning by plunking Smith,10 walking Muncy and striking out Taylor. Tingler replaced Adams with Drew Pomeranz, who gave up a run-scoring double to McKinstry. Pomeranz got the last two outs with the score 5-3, Dodgers.

The Padres tied it up in the bottom of the eighth against Corey Knebel. Machado and Wil Myers singled, and both of them scored on Profar’s double into the left-field corner. After Knebel walked pinch-hitter Victor Caratini, manager Roberts called on his closer, Kenley Jansen, who got the third out.

Caratini stayed in the game to catch as Mark Melancon took the mound for the Padres. Betts led off with a single, took second on Seager’s groundout, and scored the go-ahead run on Turner’s single. Melancon induced a double play to end the inning—Dodgers leading, 6-5.

Jansen stayed on the mound for the ninth trying to secure the win for the Dodgers. Tatis popped out to first and Jake Cronenworth struck out—two outs on 10 pitches. But the third out proved elusive. Machado walked, stole second, took third on a wild pitch—all despite being in pain with an ailing back.11 Jansen got two strikes on Hosmer, but he singled on the fourth pitch, the ball scooting past diving second baseman McKinstry. Machado scored to tie the game, 6-6. Myers struck out looking, sending the game into extra innings.

Melancon pitched an efficient top of the 10th—three outs on nine pitches, so the automatic runner placed on second only made it to third.

Dennis Santana pitched the 10th for the Dodgers. Myers was placed on second as the automatic runner. With one out, Santana hit pinch-hitter Jorge Mateo squarely on the hip. Hit by a pitch for the third time in four days, Mateo glared, Santana said something, and the benches and bullpens emptied. No punches were thrown and no ejections—just a lot of jawing while keeping Mateo and Santana separated. Caratini struck out, Grisham walked to load the bases, but Tatis struck out ending the inning with the game tied.

Neither San Diego’s Tim Hill nor Los Angeles’s David Price allowed any hits or runs in the 11th.

Hill stayed on the mound for the 12th. On his first pitch, Seager hit a two-run leadoff homer to give the Dodgers an 8-6 lead. Turner singled on the next pitch. Smith fouled out to third on the next pitch, Muncy singled on the pitch after that. Taylor hit into a fielder’s choice, but shortstop Tatis dropped the ball for his seventh12 error of the year, so all hands were safe and the bases were loaded. McKinstry singled on the first pitch he saw, scoring Turner.

That was all for Hill. Eight relievers had followed starter Weathers, and San Diego had exhausted its bullpen. Tingler turned to Cronenworth, who usually played second base but had pitched in college and had been considered by the Padres as a two-way player.13 The Padres were out of position players,14 so as part of the changes Musgrove took over in left field—through 2025 the only appearance of his career as a position player.

Raley singled, assisted by Cronenworth being late covering first base,15 and Muncy scored. That brought Price to the plate for his first at-bat of the year.16 Proving the saying that “if you’re put in for defense, the ball will find you,” Musgrove caught Price’s sacrifice fly to left and Taylor scored. Cronenworth struck out Betts to end the inning—the only time in the game that Betts struck out. The Dodgers had scored five, including two off Cronenworth, giving them an 11-6 lead.

The bottom of the 12th was anticlimactic—Price induced a flyout from Profar, and Musgrove17 and Caratini struck out looking, ending the game just after midnight.

The Padres used 22 players, the Dodgers 18.18

Of the 19 meetings between these teams in 2021, the Dodgers won 12, including a 2-0 victory the next night. The Dodgers lost the third game of the series, ending their winning streak at eight.19

The Padres finished a disappointing third in the NL West with a 79-83 record. The Dodgers were 106-56, which was only enough for second place, one game behind the San Francisco Giants (107-55). The Dodgers beat the Giants in the NL Division Series, three games to two, but lost the NL Championship Series to the eventual World Series champion Atlanta Braves in six games.

Acknowledgments 

This article was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Photo credit: Corey Seager, Trading Card Database.

Sources 

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball Reference and Retrosheet for information including the box score and play-by-play and watched the videos available on YouTube.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN202104160.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2021/B04160SDN2021.htm

Game highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VhZY6bzRgM

Game highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swZR0K_cqXE

Notes

1 In 2021, still during the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance at stadiums was limited to well below capacity to allow for social distancing. The limit for Petco Park had been raised from the Opening Day of 10,350 to the 15,250 of this game. COVID limits applied until early June, with full attendance allowed by June 17. Mark Saunders, “Petco Park Returns to Full Capacity on June 17, Some Health Measures to Continue,” 10news.com, May 21, 2021. https://www.10news.com/sports/padres/petco-park-returns-to-full-capacity-on-june-17.

2 Bernie Wilson, “Dodgers Beat Padres in First of 19 Meetings,” San Luis Obispo Tribune, April 18, 2021: 1B.

3 Will Graves, “Machado Homers, Padres Earn Split,” Palm Springs (California) Desert Sun, April 16, 2021; 3B.

4 On April 9, Musgrove had no-hit the Texas Rangers, 3-0, at Globe Life Field, in his second start since coming to the Padres from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a January 2021 three-team deal that also involved the New York Mets.

5 He had made three relief appearances of three, two, and one innings in 2021. His debut was as a reliever in the previous postseason—October 6, 2020 in NLDS Game One.

6 This was Campusano’s only RBI of 2021. With a batting average of only .088 by April 25, he was sent to the minors—where he batted .295.

7 Altavilla was placed on the 10-day Injured List the next day with right elbow inflammation. Richard J. Marcus, “Betts Makes Diving Grab as Dodgers shut down Padres,” Fresno Bee, April 19, 2021: B1. He had Tommy John surgery in July. Mitch Stacy, “Farmer, Stephenson Rally Reds Past Padres, 5-4,” Xenia (Ohio] Gazette News-Current: a5. He returned to the majors in 2024.

8 A.J. Cassavell and Juan Toribio, “The 7 Craziest Moments from LA-SD Thriller,” April 17, 2021, mlb.com, https://www.mlb.com/news/dodgers-padres-thriller-filled-with-crazy-moments?partnerId=zh-20210417-156906-MLB&qid=1026&bt_ee=1HKw9SjeRHaXZ1TfXZ03yAfr50rtE6Jyrp2XHECGwxlLJkO7qjl2dvu1uEfLTnYo&bt_ts=1618660121624. Tatis led the National League in home runs in 2021 with 42.

9 Kim was an offseason signing, coming to the major leagues after seven years in South Korea’s KBO.

10 Adams led the National League in HBP in 2021 with 24 in 52⅔ innings pitched. That was the most HBP since Jack Warhop of the New York Highlanders hit 26 batters in 1909—and he pitched 243⅓ innings.

11 Cassavell and Toribio.

12 Tatis led the National League in errors by a shortstop in 2021 with 21. After 2021, he played in the outfield or served as a designated hitter.

13 Jayson Stark, “Stark: Weird and Wild, What Goes Up Edition — the Rays, Dodgers, Padres, Reds and Braves get strange,” New York Times, April 23, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2537730/2021/04/23/stark-weird-and-wild-what-goes-up-edition-the-rays-dodgers-padres-reds-and-braves-get-strange/?source=dailyemail.

14 Cassavell and Toribio.

15 Cassavell and Toribio.

16 It took him a while to get going at the plate, but he did—his batting average was .000 until July 18, but he finished the season at .267.

17 Musgrove had already had one hit in 2021. He finished the year with a .137 batting average.

18 Starting in 2021, major league rosters were limited to 26 players. The previous limit was 25 (ignoring the expanded roster rules for the COVID season of 2020).

19 The eight-game winning streak was not their longest in 2021—they had two nine-game winning streaks.