Dodgers jump back into the NL West Division lead
SAN DIEGO (KYMA, KECY) - The Los Angeles Dodgers took ahold of the National League West Division once again with an 8-2 win over the San Diego Padres.
Nick Pivetta got the start for the Padres and encountered some early trouble. With two walks and a Mookie Betts single, Teoscar Hernandez stepped to the plate with a chance to pounce on San Diego in the first inning.
Ramon Laureano had different plans, however. Hernandez sent a high fly to deep center field but Laureano was able to leap and rob the two-time all-star of a grand slam.
The at-bat registered as a sacrifice fly as Shohei Ohtani tagged up from first to give his team the lead. Pivetta worked his way out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts following the score.
He was able to settle in, going six innings and allowing two hits and two earned runs after giving up a Freddie Freeman home run in the sixth inning.
On the other side, Yoshinobu Yamamoto started for the Dodgers and he did not disappoint. Yamamoto recorded three strikeouts through the first two innings but had trouble with the bottom of the lineup the first time through the order.
Elias Diaz, in the nine-hole, popped a two-run homer to left center to give the Padres the lead.
Following the blunder, Yamamoto was able to get through six innings of work, letting up four hits total.
The game remained knotted up at 2-2 until the seventh inning when Dalton Rushing broke the game open with a three-run shot into the bleachers against Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada.
Lefty reliever Wandy Peralta subbed-out Estrada in the same inning to take care of the left-hitting Freddie Freeman, but the former MVP got the better of the situation, blasting his second home run of the game and giving the Dodgers a 7-2 lead.
Ohtani homered in the ninth inning, his 45th on the season, for good measure to wrap things up.
The Dodgers and Padres both sit at 74-57 with Los Angeles holding the tie-breaker for the division lead. They will not play again in the regular season, but with the Padres well-positioned in the wild card standings, a postseason matchup could be on the horizon.
