Current:Home > MyPadres outlast Dodgers in raucous Game 3, leaving LA on verge of another October exit -TrueNorth Finance Path
Padres outlast Dodgers in raucous Game 3, leaving LA on verge of another October exit
View
Date:2025-04-16 15:54:26
SAN DIEGO — The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres didn’t swear at each other or accuse each other of immoral behavior, and the fans stayed cool.
When it was all over Tuesday night – what began as a laugher, turned into a thriller, and then a nail-biter – the Padres as the last team standing.
The Padres knocked off their neighbors to the north, 6-5, moving to within one game of reaching the National League Championship Series.
The Padres, relying on perhaps the best bullpen in the land, shut down the Dodgers for the final six innings, taking a 2-1 lead in the National League Division Series.
The Padres’ bullpen was the hero, with four relievers allowing up just one baserunner in the final four innings. The sellout crowd of 47,774 at Petco Park went bonkers when Robert Suarez struck out Gavin Lux, ending the game.
Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.
“This is what we have built,” Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar said. “This is who we are.”
The Padres looked as if they could run away with the game, exploding for six runs in the second inning, climaxed byFernando Tatis’s two-run homer into left.
Tatis stood and watched the ball land 396 feet away, flipped his bat high into the air, and slowly circled the bases while the sellout crowd roared to Del Mar, dancing up and down the aisles.
“I think that's definitely part of their game," Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said ahead of Game 3. “They play off the emotion. The atmosphere here plays off their emotion. We’ve seen that for the last several years, even in regular season games. ...
“That is kind of part of their game is trying to get under your skin and trying to have the emotion come out and get you to do something that you're not normally doing. For example, if you're a pitcher and you see a guy doing that, all of a sudden you want to throw harder, and now you're missing balls right over the plate. And that's when their guys are doing the damage.
“It's easier said than done, obviously, but you can't let that happen."
After that inning, the Dodgers didn’t.
Buehler, who allowed seven runners to reach base in the second, settled down, allowed just three baserunners the next three innings, and watched his team come storming back in the third inning.
The Dodgers led off the inning with three consecutive singles by Miguel Rojas, Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts, and after Freddie Freeman lined out, Teoscar Hernandez temporarily silenced the boisterous crowd.
He hit a grand slam that barely cleared the center-field fence, and just like that, a potential Padres rout became a nail-biter, with a 6-1 lead melting down to 6-5.
It became a battle of the bullpens, with Buehler and Padres starter Michael King each pulled after surviving five innings.
Certainly, the game didn’t lack entertainment.
Mookie Betts, who has been in a postseason slump for the past three years, was convinced his luck was so bad that he believed Profar robbed him of another homer when he sent Michael King’s pitch over the left-field wall in his first at-bat.
Who can blame him after what happened in Game 2?
This time, he actually headed back to the Dodgers dugout and was halfway across the infield when he realized that Profar did NOT catch it this time.
Betts, who was hitting .068 (3-for-44) in his last 12 postseason games dating back to Game 4 of the 2021 NL Championship Series, later singled in the Dodgers’ four-run outburst in the third inning, hoping it would also change the Dodgers’ fate.
The Padres, after watching the Dodgers’ crowd interrupt Sunday’s game for 10 minutes throwing objects onto the field, sent out a memo to their ticket holders in the afternoon, imploring them to keep the peace.
Padres manager Mike Shildt issued the same verbal warning to the Dodgers and particularly manager Dave Roberts, telling him to basically keep Manny Machado’s name out of his mouth.
The Padres were livid when Roberts accused Machado of throwing a baseball directed towards him in between innings in Game 2, saying it was “unsettling," while also saying the Padres embrace the “villain-type" role.
“I come from maybe just a different philosophy of dealing with this,” Shildt said. “Listen, I got into this game to help players get the most out of their God-given ability and to compete on the field and respect the opponent. I’m not, nor will I ever, disparage another player on another team, especially anybody I’ve managed in the past, nor will I do it to a collective team.
“That’s not how I want to operate. I have a lot of respect for their club, the players on their club.”
The Dodgers sent the video to MLB to see if discipline should be warranted, but MLB officials didn't see anything worth discipline.
“Zero chance," Shildt said, when asked if Machado threw the ball deliberately towards Roberts of anyone else in the dugout.
Really, Shildt said, it was time to play baseball and forget all of the other shenanigans.
“I don’t think it’s good for the game,” he said. “I think this game stands on its own merits. … You look at the passionate fan bases that love the teams. That’s what we’re here for. That’s what this game’s about.
“This game, just like the players, doesn’t need any defense, doesn’t need anything to heighten it, to bring any attention to it. It’s a beautiful game that’s very well run from our leadership. And the theater of this sport is plenty enough.”
Certainly, it proved just that once again Tuesday evening as the Padres answered the crowd's pleas:
Beat LA.
Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale
Here's how Tuesday's game unfolded
FINAL: Padres 6, Dodgers 5
Robert Suarez recored a four-out save to end San Diego's 6-5 victory at Petco Park, with the Padres now just one win away from eliminating the rival Dodgers and reaching the NLCS.
Padres will take lead into ninth inning
Padres lefty Tanner Scott came in to start the eighth and struck out Shohei Ohtani looking before getting Mookie Betts to fly out to center. Freddie Freeman singled in a lefty-on-lefty matchup, leading Padres manager Mike Shildt to pull Scott in favor of Robert Suarez to face Dodgers slugger Teoscar Hernandez. Suarez got Hernandez to pop out in the infield to end the frame.
Seventh-inning stretch: Padres 6, Dodgers 5
Padres started Michael King was removed after five innings, with Jeremiah Estrada and Jason Adam combining to get six consecutive outs and bring San Diego's 6-5 lead into the bottom of the seventh.
Through five: Padres 6, Dodgers 5
Both starters settled in, with Walker Buehler throwing up three consecutive zeros after the Padres’ six-run second inning. Michael King has retired eight in a row after Teoscar Hernandez’s grand slam in the top of the third inning that cut San Diego’s lead to 6-5.
Dodgers strike back with Teoscar Hernández grand slam
Wow. After a trainwreck of a second inning put the Dodgers in a 6-1 hole, Los Angeles came right back with Teoscar Hernández's grand slam to dead center field off Padres starter Michael King, making it a 6-5 ballgame.
Expect the pendulum to swing a few more times in this game.
Fernando Tatis Jr. home run gives Padres 6-1 lead
Who else? Fernando Tatis Jr. clobbered a two-run homer to left field in the bottom of the second, capping off a nightmare inning for the Dodgers and starter Walker Buehler.
It's Tatis Jr.'s fourth homer in five games this postseason.
Padres capitalize on LA mistakes to take 4-1 lead
Walker Buehler’s second inning turned into a disaster after a leadoff single, with two fielder’s choices and a Freddie Freeman error allowing the Padres to tie the game. WIth runners on first and third, David Peralta laced a two-RBI double past Freeman down the right field line to make it 3-1.
Another single moved Peralta to third, setting up Kyle Higashioka’s sacrifice fly to bring home the Padres’ fourth run, mercifully the first out of the inning.
Mookie Betts home run puts Dodgers up in first
Mookie Betts got the party started in Game 3 with a solo home run off Padres starter Michael King in the top of the first inning – just beyond the glove of Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar.
Betts had been mired in a postseason slump, batting .068 (3 for 44) in his past 12 playoff games dating back to the 2021 NLCS.
It was almost a carbon copy of a much-discussed play from Game 2, but Profar leaped into the stands to rob Betts of a home run and took the time to celebrate in front of fans.
What time is Dodgers vs. Padres?
First pitch at Petco Park is scheduled for 9:08 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Dodgers vs Padres TV channel
- TV: Fox Sports 1
- Stream: Watch this game on Fubo (Regional restrictions may apply)
Dodgers lineup for Game 3
- Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
- Mookie Betts (R) RF
- Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
- Teoscar Hernández (R) LF
- Max Muncy (L) 3B
- Will Smith (R) C
- Gavin Lux (L) 2B
- Tommy Edman (S) CF
- Miguel Rojas (R) SS
Padres lineup
- Luis Arraez (L) 1B
- Fernando Tatis Jr. (R) RF
- Jurickson Profar (S) LF
- Manny Machado (R) 3B
- Jackson Merrill (L) CF
- Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
- David Peralta (L) DH
- Jake Cronenworth (L) 2B
- Kyle Higashioka (R) C
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
veryGood! (48)
Related
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- Walmart acquires Vizio in $2 billion merger, retailer says
- FTC to refund $1.25 million to those tricked by LASIK surgery chain. Here's how to file a claim
- Drunk driver who struck and killed an NYPD detective sentenced to more than 20 years in prison
- Juan Soto praise of Mets' future a tough sight for Yankees, but World Series goal remains
- IVF supporters are 'freaking out' over Alabama court decision treating embryos as children
- Remains found in remote Colorado mountains 33 years ago identified as man from Indiana
- 'Who TF Did I Marry': Woman's TikTok saga on marriage to ex-husband goes massively viral
- Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
- Dartmouth College to honor memory of football coach Teevens with celebration, athletic complex name
Ranking
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- Solange toys with the idea of a tuba album: 'I can only imagine the eye rolls'
- Ex-FBI informant charged with lying about Bidens had Russian intelligence contacts, prosecutors say
- What to know as Julian Assange faces a ruling on his U.S. extradition case over WikiLeaks secrets
- Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
- Agency to announce the suspected cause of a 2022 bridge collapse over a Pittsburgh ravine
- Young girl dies after 5-foot deep hole collapses in Florida beach tragedy
- Alexei Navalny's death reveals the power of grief as his widow continues fight against Putin
Recommendation
Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
Reviewers drag 'Madame Web,' as social media reacts to Dakota Johnson's odd press run
Three slain Minnesota first responders remembered for their commitment to service
Flint man becomes first person charged under Michigan’s new gun storage law
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Hi Hi!
It’s an election year, and Biden’s team is signaling a more aggressive posture toward the press
What is the birthstone for March? There's actually 2. Get to know the spring month's gems.
Dartmouth College to honor memory of football coach Teevens with celebration, athletic complex name