June 18, 1969, Los Angeles: Dodgers 10, Padres 1 (box score)
A day after being outscored, 18-3, in a doubleheader at Dodger Stadium, the Padres looked to salvage a split of the four-game series against their neighbors to the north. The Dodgers, it seems, had other ideas.
Los Angeles struck early and often against southpaw Johnny Podres. In the bottom of the first, with Manny Mota on, Wes Parker launched a homer to left against the former Dodger.
In the third inning, the home team scored three more runs, knocking Podres out of the game in the process. The Dodgers had extended their lead to 5-0, and with the way right-hander Don Sutton was pitching, five runs would be more than enough.
Sutton held the Padres hitless through 4 2/3 innings before Cito Gaston tripled to right. He held them scoreless until the sixth, when San Diego parlayed two singles, a grounder to second, and a passed ball into a run.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, continued to abuse Padres pitchers. Three runs in the fifth and two more in the eighth made the final score 10-1. Sutton won his 10th game of the season, allowing just the one run on three hits while fanning seven.
Trivia: Pitchers were worked a little differently back in the day. At the ripe old age of 24, Sutton made 41 starts for the Dodgers, tossing 293 1/3 innings and striking out 217 batters. If the workload affected him, he had a funny way of showing it. Sutton made 30 or more starts every year from 1966 through 1987 except for ’68 (27 starts, plus 8 relief appearances) and ’81 (23 starts in a strike-shortened season).
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