SAN DIEGO — Mookie Betts gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead before most fans had found their seats, and for one inning, Roki Sasaki looked like he might cruise through Petco Park the same way he’d cruised through Minneapolis a week ago. Then the second inning happened, and Ty France happened, and the whole night flipped. San Diego scored seven of the next seven runs, the bullpen did the rest, and the Dodgers left the opener of this series with a 7-1 loss that snapped their momentum cold after a sweep of the Twins.
Ty France Turns a Walk-Fest Into a Three-Run Swing
Sasaki opened the bottom of the second by walking Manny Machado, who advanced to second on a wild pitch, then walked Gavin Sheets right behind him. Two on, nobody out, and the kind of inning a young pitcher can survive if he gets one out at the right time. Xander Bogaerts nearly delivered it with a line out to center, and for a second it looked like Sasaki might wriggle free with the damage capped at zero.
Then Ty France turned on one and sent it out to left field, a three-run homer that didn’t just score Machado and Sheets, it took the air out of the building’s visiting dugout. A 1-0 Dodgers lead became a 3-1 Padres lead in the time it took the ball to land, and the rest of Sasaki’s night played out in the shadow of that single swing.
Sasaki Battles, but the Walks Catch Up
To his credit, Sasaki didn’t fold. He worked four innings, scattering three hits and striking out two, but the free passes were the story: five walks against a Padres lineup that made him pay for nearly all of them. The France homer was the headline shot, but the damage traced back to free baserunners more than hard contact, the kind of outing where the stuff is there but the command isn’t, and a lineup as patient as San Diego’s will eventually find the mistake.
Jack Dreyer, Brock Stewart and Edgardo Henriquez combined to give the Dodgers exactly what they needed after Sasaki departed, three scoreless innings that kept the game within reach. For a stretch in the middle innings, it looked like Los Angeles might claw back into this one.
The Offense Goes Cold Against the Padres’ Bullpen
It never did, mostly because the Dodgers couldn’t find another run after Betts’ second-inning homer. Freddie Freeman doubled in the sixth and Andy Pages walked, putting two on with one out, but Yuki Matsui intentionally walked Mookie Betts to load the bases and load the deck against Max Muncy, who popped out on the infield fly rule to snuff out the threat. Kyle Tucker followed with a fly out, and the inning that could have tied the game ended with the scoreboard untouched.
That sequence, Freeman in scoring position with the heart of the order coming up, was the Dodgers’ best look at this game all night. San Diego’s bullpen made sure it was also their last good one. Jason Adam and Adrian Morejon combined for two more scoreless innings, and by the time Los Angeles got runners on in the eighth, Mookie Betts grounded into a double play to end the threat before it started.
Jonathan Hernández Opens the Floodgates
The Padres turned a manageable lead into a laugher in the eighth. Jonathan Hernández walked two batters and gave up a two-out, two-run single to Sung-Mun Song that made it 5-1, then Rodolfo Durán and Fernando Tatis Jr. each followed with run-scoring hits of their own. By the time the inning ended, San Diego had pushed four runs across, the Dodgers’ bullpen had been stretched past its breaking point, and a competitive ballgame had turned into a 7-1 final before the ninth inning even started.
Los Angeles tried to answer in the ninth, with Alex Call singling in as a pinch-hitter and Miguel Rojas reaching base, but Tommy Edman grounded into a double play to end it. The Dodgers managed seven hits on the night, two of them from Freeman, but they stranded traffic all over the bases against a Padres pitching staff that tightened up exactly when it needed to.
Up Next
The loss snaps the Dodgers’ momentum after a three-game sweep of the Twins, but it’s still just game one of three in San Diego. Los Angeles still holds a commanding lead in the NL West and will look to even the series Saturday when Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound against Randy Vasquez. First pitch from Petco Park is set for 5:40 p.m. PST.
