Dodgers, Jansen let one get away in San Diego
SAN DIEGO - The Dodgers still can't win four in a row.
Presented with the opportunity to secure the team's fourth straight win in Friday night's ninth inning, closer Kenley Jansen blew it, giving the San Diego Padres the 6-5 win at Petco Park.
'It didn't go my way,' Jansen said. 'There's nothing I can do about it now. I have to be better next time.'
Jansen entered with a two-run lead, then allowed a single to Alexi Amarista to open the ninth. Pinch-hitter Carlos Quentin, long the Dodgers' nemesis, followed with a double, and Will Venable smacked another double to tie the score.
After a bunt got the winning run to third, Everth Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly to deep right, and the game was over, snapping Jansen's streak of 16 consecutive converted save chances.
Offensively, Dee Gordon battled Padres right-hander Ian Kennedy to seven pitches in Friday's first at-bat, then slammed a down-the-middle fastball to the right-center fence and scampered all the way home on a triple and error.
The Dodgers kept it up from there, forcing Kennedy to throw 109 pitches in five innings. They scored three runs in the fifth, on a Dan Haren single, Hanley Ramirez walk, Yasiel Puig single and sacrifice fly from Adrian Gonzalez.
Haren, the Dodgers starter, allowed a first-inning solo homer to Seth Smith, then nothing else until the fifth, when the unraveling began. San Diego scored a run on a double and single, and Smith hit Haren's second pitch of the sixth into the right-field seats for his second home run.
Haren was charged with three runs in 52/3 innings, striking out five while walking two and not factoring in the decision.
The Dodgers (40-35) still have not won four consecutive games this season. With San Francisco's loss, they could have moved to three games back of the National League West lead with a victory. They stayed four games behind.
Puig exited with an aggravation of a mild left hip muscle strain in the inning and was replaced in right by Scott Van Slyke.
'I keep having issues with the same hip, and I keep playing through them because I know I need to support the team,' Puig said. 'But it's still hurting me.'
Contact the writer: pmoura@ocregister.com
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