The Los Angeles Dodgers continued to grow their National League West lead with another comeback victory against the San Diego Padres.
The Dodgers now lead the Padres by 14 games. San Diego now sits third in the division after extending their losing streak to seven games.
Both teams will be back for game three of the four-game series on Saturday night for a Fourth of July matchup as the Dodgers look to win the series.
Dodgers 4, Padres 3: key takeaways
Dodgers complete second consecutive comeback
Michael King shut down the Dodgers for the first six innings of the game. The right-hander was perfect until allowing a two-out single to Freddie Freeman in the fourth inning, and that was their only hit against him until Dalton Rushing singled in the sixth.
King went back out for the seventh, still without allowing a run, and walked Mookie Betts to start the inning. Max Muncy followed with a single, and that ended King’s night.
Adrian Morejon entered and got Tucker to ground into what should have been a double play that killed the Dodgers’ rally. Instead, the ball was booted by Jake Cronenworth and the Dodgers had the bases loaded with no outs, trailing by three.
Teoscar Hernández stepped up to the plate, and on the first pitch he saw, he slugged a grand slam that put the Dodgers up, 4-3.
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It marked the second straight game the Padres blew a multiple-run lead against the Dodgers after giving up a 6-0 lead on Thursday night.
Two of the runs were charged to King, while the other two were charged to Morejon.
Overall, it was still a quiet offensive game for the Dodgers. They picked up just five hits, went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position, and left five on base. Still, they put together a rally when they needed it and got the big hit to flip the score, and that’s the mark of a good team.
Shohei Ohtani labors in quality start
After Shohei Ohtani was pushed back from his scheduled start on Wednesday for extra rest, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts planned to push him more during his outing against the Padres. Roberts kept true to his word as Ohtani made a season-high 110 pitches and was left in to get out of a jam in the sixth inning, despite being at 102 pitches.
The high pitch count was a product of Ohtani’s lack of his normal command, which also led to seven hits allowed and two walks, resulting in three runs allowed. However, Ohtani’s stuff was still working well as he struck out nine hitters.
The Padres got on the board first after Ohtani walked the first two batters of the game and Gavin Sheets capitalized on it with an RBI single. But Ohtani came back to strike out the next two batters to strand two runners on base.
In the fourth inning, Ohtani left a fastball over the heart of the plate and Jackson Merrill capitalized, slugging it out of the park for a homer that put the Padres up 2-0.
The Padres threatened again with two singles in the fifth inning, but Ohtani was able to strand them on base. However, he wasn’t as lucky in the sixth inning as Merrill hit a two-out single and Xander Bogaerts doubled him home.
After the double, Sung-Min Song singled to put runners at the corners, and then he stole second base. Ohtani and Rodolfo Durán battled with two outs and two on, but the two-way star got him to pop out on the eighth pitch, ending the threat and Ohtani’s outing.
Dalton Rushing was also back behind the plate catching Ohtani, and they appeared to be more on the same page in this one.
Dodgers bullpen shuts down Padres
After Ohtani’s outing, the Dodgers received three scoreless innings from their bullpen. Kyle Hurt worked the seventh, allowing one hit and one walk but also forcing a double play.
Edgardo Henriquez pitched a perfect eighth inning, and then Tanner Scott closed out the game in the ninth by striking out the side.
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