Dodgers NL West lead grows to double digits with series win over Padres
SAN DIEGO — One big hit and a bunch of great at-bats.That’s all the Dodgers needed to take control of a rubber-match 4-2 win over the Padres on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park.With the score tied entering the top of the fifth inning, and a pivotal midseason series hanging in the balance between National League West rivals, the Dodgers built the kind of big inning they’ve long felt defines their offense.They stressed Padres ace Michael King with supreme plate discipline.Then they made him pay for the one mistake he left in the zone.The inning began with three free bases: Walks from Alex Freeland and Shohei Ohtani (who had opened the scoring in the third with an RBI single), then a hit-by-pitch of Andy Pages.After that, former MVPs Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts came up and exemplified a pair of professional at-bats.Freeman stayed alive in a nine-pitch battle against King, fouling off one two-strike offering after the next —including one that nearly drilled Betts in the on-deck circle — before finally walking on a changeup that appeared to catch the corner of the zone, but wasn’t challenged by either of San Diego’s battery mates.Betts then stepped in and waited King out for something over the plate.
He laid off the first three pitches he saw.He then laced a two-run single to center on a sinker down the middle.The Dodgers would cling to the lead the rest of the way, getting a five-inning, one-run start out of Emmet Sheehan, then four stressful innings of one-run ball from the bullpen.There were plenty of chances for the Padres to rally along the way, as they put the tying runners on base in both the sixth and eighth and had Fernando Tatis Jr.
up as the tying run with one out in the ninth.But they couldn’t replicate what the Dodgers did in the fifth.
It underscored the difference in the game, the series and the National League West standings.The Dodgers’ division lead was in no sort of danger entering this week’s series, even after the Padres tri...