The Padres acquired starting pitcher Nestor Cortes, who was recovering from an injury with the Milwaukee Brewers at the time, as their final trade deadline acquisition. The acquisition sort of got buried in the shuffle following the flurry that brought well-known individuals like Mason Miller and Ryan O’Hearn to town.
If Padres fans didn’t previously know him well, they now have a strong affection for Cortes. The left-hander shut down the Dodgers lineup entirely, taking a perfect game into the sixth inning and leading the Friars to a 5-1 victory. With one game remaining in their crucial weekend series at Petco Park, the Friars are now alone in first place in the National League West, one game ahead of Los Angeles.
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All night long, Cortes kept the Dodgers off balance, and he was nothing short of spectacular. Before giving up Miguel Rojas a clean single with one out in the sixth inning, he had already retired the game’s first sixteen batters. Because he outpitched the much more ballyhooed Tyler Glasnow, “Nasty” Nestor earned his first win as a Padre, and it was the only baserunner he allowed in his 6.0 innings of work.
The Dodgers starter suffered from a lack of command in the fourth inning. To load the bases, Glasnow walked Xander Bogaerts, walked Manny Machado, and let O’Hearn single. He was made to pay by Ramon Laureano. San Diego took a 2-0 lead after the outfielder, who has been probably the finest of the deadline arrivals, sneaked a single through the right side to bring home two runs.
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As it so frequently does, the Padres’ strong bullpen made it stand up after Xander Bogaerts added a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. After youngster Alex Freeland of the Dodgers hit a solo shot off Jeremiah Estrada to raise the score 3-1, Bogaerts’ 2-run double in the eighth inning put an end to any hopes of a late Dodgers comeback.
Nick Pivetta took the mound against Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Sunday afternoon, and Adrian Morejon recorded the final four outs to win the save and give the Padres a chance to sweep the Dodgers.
