The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres met for the first time in the 2025 season, and the first matchup provided another playoff-like atmosphere with an extra innings game that resulted in an 8-7 Dodgers’ victory.
The Dodgers now have a two-game lead over the Padres in the National League West, so at worst they will be tied with San Diego in the standings at the end of the series.
Offense dominated the game early as neither starting pitcher was particularly good and the two sides kept trading leads. Dustin May allowed six runs (five earned) over five innings while Nick Pivetta allowed five runs (four earned) over four innings.
The Dodgers jumped out in front in the first inning when Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman both doubled to put them up 1-0. Will Smith had a sacrifice fly to double the lead.
The Padres came back to tie it in the bottom half of the inning with two singles followed by an RBI-double from Manny Machado and a sacrifice fly from Jackson Merrill. After the Dodgers went scoreless in their half of the second, the Padres took the lead on a throwing error from Smith that allowed Jake Cronenworth to score.
Betts and Freeman singled to open the third, and Betts came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Teoscar Hernández that tied the game. Smith then blasted a two-run homer that gave the Dodgers a 5-3 lead.
In the bottom of the third, the Padres loaded the bases with a single from Machado and walks from Merrill and Xander Bogaerts before Tyler Wade tripled to clear the bases and give San Diego a 6-5 lead. Hernández could have made the play, but attempted to slide and make a catch instead of running through the spot.
Neither team scored untilt the fifth inning when the Dodgers tied it up after a single from Max Muncy and a double from Hyeseong Kim. It was Kim’s third at-bat against a left-hander in his career, and he is now 3-for-3 against them with a homer and double.
From there, both bullpens shut down the opposing lineups to get the game to extra innings with Anthony Banda tossing two scoreless innings and Alex Vesia and Kirby Yates each tossing one. The Padres used more of a bullpen by committee approach with five different relievers to get the game to the ninth inning.
In extra innings, Andy Pages immediately scored the ghost runner with a double to start off the inning. He then scored when Tommy Edman singled off the second base bag, giving the Dodgers an 8-6 lead.
Tanner Scott allowed the ghost runner to score in the 10th on a double, but still was able to record the save.
Dodgers not adding emphasis to series against Padres
The Dodgers came away victorious in that last matchup between the two clubs, winning the NL Division Series in five games to advance to the NL Championship Series.
With this week’s series, the Padres will surely want a little revenge, but it also gives them an opportunity to take first place in the NL West. The Dodgers have a lead of one game over them, so either team could exit the series in sole possession of first place.
But even with that, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said his club isn’t putting extra emphasis on playing the Padres.
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