Dylan stops pitching in Game 4 vs. Dodgers; Jackson Merrill's short work – San Diego Union-Tribune

Dylan Cease didn't get out of the fourth inning on Saturday. He only threw 82 pitches.

The Padres are hoping this works to his advantage as they ask him to take three days rest for the first time in his career.

“We’ll see how many balls he has,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “I looked into it and discussed it with him and he was thrilled.”

Cease allowed five runs on six hits and two walks in 3⅓ innings on Saturday. He struck out five.

The Dodgers will counter with a bullpen game – “I see one of our relievers starting,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, declining to shake his hand – after Walker Buehler pitched five innings in Game 3.

Anthony Banda recorded four outs, Daniel Hudson converted two and Michael Kopech pitched a scoreless eighth.

One advantage, Roberts said, is that the Dodgers' leverage, aside from Kopech, hasn't been used since Saturday's 7-5 win in a game started by Cease.

Shildt waited until after Tuesday's game to announce Cease as his starting player.

Michael King pitched just five innings on Tuesday, leaving Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, Tanner Scott and Robert Suarez to pitch the final four frames.

Estrada and Adam each pitched a scoreless inning, Scott starting the eighth with a strikeout against Shohei Ohtani before Freeman's single prompted Shildt to call out Suarez for a four-out save.

It was Suárez's first appearance in the series.

“I was just amazed at the efficiency of our support staff today,” Shildt said. “Estrada really good. Adam really good. Scott threw the ball exceptionally well… and Suarez was excellent.”

Shildt added: “(Suarez will) be ready to rock. Everyone will be ready to go.”

Not so fast

With Ha Seong Kim He missed the remainder of the postseason due to season-ending shoulder surgery and the Padres' injured shortstop's hiring of a super agent Scott BorasThe chances of both sides exercising a mutual $8 million option for 2024 have decreased exponentially.

That means the Padres will be taking a close look at the position for the 2025 season.

Internal options abound, with Xander Bogaerts back to his original position for the remainder of the postseason and Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth And Jackson Merrill all have a story on the left side of the diamond.

Of that trio, it was Merrill, a shortstop until spring training, who was seen taking grounders at shortstop as recently as Monday's day off, but I can't think of that yet.

Players often take grounders to stay fresh, especially baseball junkies like Merrill.

He ends the book with nothing, but…

“I just take them for fun now, keep my hands reasonably supple and keep my footwork reasonably good,” Merrill said. “But whatever happens, it happens. If they want to throw me back in the infield, I'm ready. At the same time, I’m happy where I am.”

Hometown…heel?

Before attending college at Stanford, Tommy Edman prepared for La Jolla Country Day. The Cardinals ultimately selected Edman in the sixth round in 2016, drafted him to the majors in 2019 and placed him on the 2020 wild-card squad, which they took to Petco Park in the fall.

Whatever loyalties may or may not exist for his hometown ball club, they were clearly lost when the Cardinals sent the 29-year-old utility man to the rival Dodgers in July as part of a three-team deal with the Chicago White Sox.

Apparently.

“I have a lot of friends who are still Padres fans,” Edman said with a laugh before the series moved to San Diego. “I hope we can beat them so I can talk nonsense to them this offseason.”

Remarkable

• Former Padres catcher Jorge Alfarowho made “LFGSD!” The team’s rallying cry of 2022 as the Padres advanced to the National League Championship Series, threw out the first pitch.
• Dodgers SS Miguel Rojaswho was struggling with a torn adductor muscle early in the series, left in apparent discomfort early in the third inning. Now 1B Freddie Freeman (Ankle) pitched seven innings and came out for pinch-runner Chris Taylor after his two-out single in the top of the eighth.
• 2B Jake Cronenworth was 0 for 13 early in the postseason before an infield single in the Padres' six-run second inning. He finished the game 2-for-3 with one run scored.
• Before the game, Major League Baseball approved the Dodgers to replace RHP Michael Grove in the squad with a right-hander Ben Casparius. Grove allowed one run in the eighth inning on Sunday. Roberts said Grove was dealing with a shoulder injury, which was confirmed after a full review of medical information by the MLB medical director Gary Green. Grove cannot be reinstated to the Dodgers roster until after the National League Championship Series.

Originally published: October 8, 2024 at 9:35 p.m