SAN DIEGO — Mookie Betts turns the relay as Freddy Fermin slides into second during the Dodgers’ ninth-inning, game-ending double play. Credit: @Dodgers
SAN DIEGO — Shohei Ohtani started the scoring and Mookie Betts finished it, and in between the Dodgers turned a tense pitcher’s duel into a game that wins a series. For four innings, Petco Park looked like it might host another low-scoring grind, the kind of game where one swing decides everything. Instead, Los Angeles answered with patience, working walk after walk until San Diego cracked. The Dodgers broke it open with a four-run fifth, held off a Manny Machado homer and a late Padres rally, and walked out with a 4-2 win and a series victory to close out the road trip.
Freeland and Ohtani Get the Big Inning Started
Alex Freeland set the tone in the top of the third with a leadoff single, then moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from Chuckie Robinson. That was all the runway Ohtani needed. He lined a single to left to drive in Freeland and put the Dodgers up 1-0, the kind of small-ball execution that has carried Los Angeles through this stretch when the long ball hasn’t been falling. Michael King and the Padres survived the rest of the inning, but the writing was already on the wall.
A Three-Walk Fifth Blows the Game Open
If the third inning was a crack in the door, the fifth kicked it open. Freeland walked to start things, and after Robinson lined out bunting for the first out, King lost the strike zone completely. Ohtani walked. Andy Pages got plunked. Freddie Freeman worked a bases-loaded walk to force in Freeland and make it 2-1. Then Betts stepped in and ended any drama, ripping a sharp line drive single to center that scored both Ohtani and Pages and stretched the lead to 4-1.
King’s night was over after that, with Yuki Matsui coming on in relief, but the damage was done. Four runs, zero hits required to start the rally, just a lineup that made a struggling pitcher pay for every missed location. It was the kind of inning that doesn’t show up dramatically on a highlight reel but wins baseball games.
Emmet Sheehan Battles Through Five, Machado Answers with a Blast
On the mound, Emmet Sheehan gave the Dodgers exactly what they needed: five innings, two hits, five strikeouts, and just enough trouble to keep things interesting. San Diego’s lone blemish against him came in the fourth, when Manny Machado got to one and drove it out to left center for his 15th homer of the season, tying the game at 1-1 before Los Angeles answered right back in the fifth.
Sheehan worked around traffic all night, stranding a leadoff single from Xander Bogaerts in the second and weathering a walk from Sung-Mun Song in the third, and left with the lead in hand after five innings of work. It was the steady, unspectacular kind of start that lets a bullpen breathe.
SAN DIEGO — Emmet Sheehan delivers during his five-inning start, scattering two hits and striking out five to keep the Dodgers in front. Credit: @losdodgers
San Diego Chips Away, but the Bullpen Holds
The Padres didn’t go away quietly. Jackson Merrill singled and stole second in the sixth, then scored on a Bogaerts base hit to make it 4-2 and put the tying run in the on-deck circle. Los Angeles turned to its bullpen in waves, Alex Vesia and Will Klein each getting an out before handing things to Tanner Scott, who worked through the seventh and into the eighth around a Machado double and a Ty France hit-by-pitch.
The biggest moment of the night for the defense came right behind that double, when Max Muncy started a third-to-second-to-first double play to erase the threat and keep the Padres at arm’s length. It was the kind of play that doesn’t make a highlight package but flips momentum right back in the dugout where Los Angeles wanted it. Edgardo Henriquez closed it out in the ninth, getting Fernando Tatis Jr. to ground into a game-ending double play after a leadoff walk, and the Dodgers had their series win locked up.
SAN DIEGO — Edgardo Henriquez gets a hug from his catcher after closing out the ninth and sealing the Dodgers’ series win. Credit: @Dodgers
Up Next
The win caps a road trip where Los Angeles kept finding ways to win close, low-scoring games, leaning on situational hitting and a deep bullpen instead of waiting on the long ball. Up next, the Dodgers head north to Sacramento for a three-game series against the Athletics, with Eric Lauer taking the mound against Gage Jump in the opener. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. PST.
SAN DIEGO — Eric Lauer will get the ball for the Dodgers in the series opener against Oakland, set for Tuesday in Sacramento. Credit: @Dodgers