LOS ANGELES — With his phone in hand, Jeremiah Estrada stepped out of the visitors’ dugout more than four hours before first pitch Tuesday, took in the unique perspective of Chavez Ravine and vowed to make better memories than the last time he stepped onto the mound at Dodger Stadium.

Estrada was a Dodgers fan as a child and was actually present at his cathedral when Palm Desert High asked him to start in the CIF Southern Section Division II championship game in June 2017.

His Aztecs lost that game, 2-1 (the photos of a teenage Estrada that day in the Desert Sun are a must-click). He was drafted in the sixth round by the Chicago Cubs shortly afterward, and he hadn’t thrown a pitch in Dodger Stadium since that fateful day.

The 25-year-old has recorded every stadium he has visited this season, but…

“This one meant the most,” Estrada said late Tuesday night. “I always told myself as a kid that I wanted to pitch in Dodger Stadium. Of course, the mentality back then was that I wanted to pitch for the Dodgers, but even better was that I’m (expletive) pitching for the (expletive) San Diego Padres and I’m pitching against them.”

Not that he contributed much to Tuesday’s 4-2 victory, a decisive play-off win for his employer.

Estrada threw only one ball and recorded his team-best 15th hold, a 97 mph four-seamer that knocked out La Jolla Country Day product Tommy Edman to shortstop, leaving runners on first and second in a three-run game.

The single out extended his scoreless streak to 9⅓ innings to start September. In that span, Estrada has struck out 10, walked two and allowed just one hit, approaching the version of the reliever who retired a record 13 consecutive batters in late May.

A subsequent bout with the flu cost Estrada 15 pounds and his effectiveness went from June (ERA 7.15) to July (ERA 1.46) to August (ERA 6.52) and then again in September when he returned to Dodger Stadium with his new favorite team in the thick of playoff contention.

“I was hoping to be there and do whatever I could to help this team win,” Estrada said during Tuesday’s alcoholic celebration.

He added: “I said I was going to make this redemption for the boys. Shout out to the boys in Palm Desert. I got love for them, just like I got love for these boys. I’m glad to get my redemption back on this field.”

‘Found something’

Jake Cronenworth’s recovery for the 2024 season hit a dead end.

He hadn’t hit a home run all month, hadn’t allowed a single run and entered September with a .186/.333/.203 batting average.

Still, Cronenworth kept going. On Tuesday, hours before the match, a breakthrough came.

At least that was the feeling I had after the last month of the season.

The reward: a two-run home run off a middle-middle changeup by Landon Knack in the second inning and a run-scoring double by the Dodgers rookie in the fourth inning.

“I’ve been working really hard to get something going,” Cronenworth said, “and I even found something before today’s game.”

Asked what that was, Cronenworth smiled broadly as a mixture of beer and champagne trickled down the side of his face. Without another word, the 30-year-old veteran, the dragon slayer of the 2022 NLDS, disappeared back into the celebration unfolding in the middle of Dodger Stadium’s small clubhouse.

Knew it all along

While pitching coach Ruben Niebla was visiting with Robert Suarez and the rest of the infielders, as the Padres’ fighting closer prepared to face Miguel Rojas with runners on first and second in a 4-2 game and Shohei Ohtani on the field, Jackson Merrill had news for Fernando Tatis Jr.

Well, not really news.

Just an idea or a hope, per se.

After all, Merrill is 21 years old and full of optimism.

“I told Tati on the pitching break, ‘Hey, triple play here,'” Merrill said late Tuesday night. “I just threw it in, freeballed it, but (expletive) that’s what happened.”

Said Tatis, who took a brief break from Tuesday’s celebration to laugh about his young teammate’s prediction coming true: “He did; he yelled it. It was insane. I just laughed because I know how insane this game is. It was awesome.”

Remarkable

His first professional season ended with a right shoulder injury (throwing). SS Leodalis De Vries is the top prospect for the Padres who will join the Arizona Fall League starting October 7. Other Padres prospects assigned to the Peoria Javelinas are C Ethan Salas, 1B Romeo Sanabria, RHPs Ryan Bergert, Luis German, David Morgan and Gabe Mosser and LHP Harry Gustin.

Originally published: September 25, 2024 at 12:13 pm