SAN DIEGO — Fernando Tatis Jr.’s towering two-run residence run highlighted a six-run second inning, and the San Diego Padres held on to beat Shohei Ohtani and the rival Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 on Tuesday evening to take a 2-1 lead in a tense NL Division Sequence.
The Padres moved inside one victory of eliminating the Dodgers within the NLDS for the second time in three seasons. Recreation 4 is Wednesday evening at Petco Park, which was full of a rally towel-waving document crowd of 47,744.
The followers roared as Robert Suarez struck out Gavin Lux on a full-count pitch to finish a four-out save.
Tatis’ spectacular homer gave the Padres a 6-1 lead, however Teoscar Hernández hit a grand slam with one out within the third off Michael King to deliver the Dodgers inside a run.
Mookie Betts additionally homered for the Dodgers to interrupt an 0-for-22 playoff droop, however apparently thought left fielder Jurickson Profar had robbed him like he did in Sunday evening’s 10-2 Padres win at Dodger Stadium, when tempers flared on the sector and within the stands.
Betts rounded first and headed towards the dugout earlier than teammates and even King motioned that it was a homer.
Tatis’ shot into the left-field seats was his third of the collection, leaving him one shy of the NLDS document held by Carlos Beltran (2004, Houston) and Nick Castellanos (2023, Philadelphia).
Tatis had two of San Diego’s six homers Sunday evening.
The flamboyant Tatis stood for a couple of seconds and watched the ball sail out of the yard, flipped his bat and gestured towards the dugout earlier than starting his trot.
King, who was a part of the Juan Soto commerce, received his second win in as many playoff begins after permitting 5 runs and 5 hits in 5 innings, with three strikeouts and one stroll.
He was coming off a gem within the opening recreation of the Wild Card Sequence towards Atlanta, when he grew to become the primary pitcher in historical past to have 12 strikeouts with no runs and no walks in a postseason debut in San Diego’s 4-0 win.
Betts gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead within the first after some confusion.
He lofted a flyball to the left-field nook with one out within the first inning at nearly the identical distance as he did in Dodger Stadium on Sunday evening, when Profar leaped and reached into the gang to make the catch.
After Profar landed, he trolled the followers by observing them and bouncing up and down a number of instances earlier than throwing the ball to the infield.
Profar leaped once more Tuesday evening however couldn’t deliver it again, with the ball ticking off his glove and into the gang.
Betts rounded first and turned towards the dugout earlier than he received to second.
Betts’ teammates within the dugout, together with Max Muncy, motioned for him to maintain going and King gestured together with his proper arm that it was truthful.
Betts resumed his trot after his first playoff hit since Recreation 3 of the 2022 NLDS towards San Diego, which the Padres gained in 4 video games.
San Diego’s second-inning outburst got here towards dropping pitcher Walker Buehler, who was making his first playoff begin since Recreation 6 of the NLCS towards Atlanta.
Buehler missed the 2023 season after present process a second Tommy John surgical procedure in August 2022.
The primary 5 Padres batters reached and scored.
Xander Bogaerts drove in a run on a fielder’s selection and David Peralta hit a two-run double.
Former Yankee Kyle Higashioka hit a sacrifice fly two batters earlier than Tatis homered with two outs.
Manny Machado hit a leadoff single and ended up on third after first baseman Freddie Freeman fielded Jackson Merrill’s grounder and hit Machado on the left shoulder whereas throwing to second from his knees.
Buehler additionally went 5 innings, permitting six runs and 7 hits with no strikeouts and one stroll.
The Dodgers opened the third by loading the bases on consecutive singles by Miguel Rojas, Shohei Ohtani and Betts earlier than Hernández hit a towering shot to straightaway heart.
