The Dodgers didn’t waste any time turning Tuesday night into a statement. They piled up six runs with two outs, backed it with a parade of arms, and rolled past the Padres 7-0 in the opener of a series between two teams sitting at the top of the sport right now.
Tommy Edman and Will Smith each went deep, and Los Angeles kept extending the lead late after breaking the game open early. The win pushed the Dodgers to 97-60 and brought them within one game of Milwaukee, which sits at 98-59 for the best record in the majors. The Brewers still hold the head-to-head tiebreaker, though, so the Dodgers’ path to home-field advantage throughout the postseason isn’t fully in their hands.
There’s still a clear payoff in front of them: one more win, or an Atlanta loss, and Los Angeles locks up a first-round bye into the National League Division Series.
For the Padres, the loss snapped a five-game winning streak and dropped them to 14-5 in September. San Diego remains tied with Chicago and Philadelphia at 87-70 for the three NL wild-card spots, four games clear of Arizona with five games left.
Michael King never settled in. The Padres right-hander, working in his career-high 32nd start, was chased after four innings with five runs allowed on six hits. He struck out five, but his four-game winning streak ended in a hurry.
The Dodgers did most of their damage in the second inning. King retired the first two hitters on just six pitches, then the inning flipped. Teoscar Hernández and rookie Josue De Paula followed with back-to-back singles, Andy Pages - back from the injured list - was hit by a pitch, and the bases were suddenly loaded.
King then walked Edman and Mookie Betts in succession, bringing home two runs. Freddie Freeman followed with a two-run single to make it 4-0.
Los Angeles added to the cushion in the fourth when Betts ripped a ground-rule double and later scored on Freeman’s two-out single for a 5-0 edge.
Edman’s solo homer came with two outs in the sixth, and Smith launched a 396-foot shot with one out in the seventh to finish the scoring.
The Dodgers used eight pitchers in all and got a shutout out of a bullpen game started by Brock Stewart, with Justin Wrobleski picking up the win and moving to 12-5. It was the fifth shutout in franchise history when using at least that many pitchers.
Edwin Díaz struck out two in his inning of work, and Roki Sasaki’s fastball reached 100 mph during his one-inning outing. Sasaki had just come off the injured list earlier Tuesday after missing nearly a month with a blister on his right middle finger.
Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado were a combined 1 for 7 with five strikeouts, a rough night for San Diego’s biggest bats as the Dodgers controlled the game from start to finish.
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For San Diego, the broader bracket picture matters because the Padres are among the other clubs that could end up in that mix if the draw shifts. Milwaukees matchup outlook is complicated by how well it has played against some of the likelier opponents, while the article also points to injury uncertainty around Alex Bregman as another wrinkle in the postseason conversation. In a playoff field that already looks crowded, the Brewers path is starting to look less straightforward than it did a week ago. [Read more 🡒]