The San Diego Padres sent the star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers to the brink of postseason elimination with a 6-5 victory in a roller-coaster Major League Baseball playoff clash on Tuesday. A wild game at an electric Petco Park saw Los Angeles take a first-inning lead through a Mookie Betts solo home run before the Padres punished multiple Dodgers fielding blunders to erupt for six runs in the second inning. The Dodgers recovered from that second inning disaster to get within one run after Teoscar Hernandez blasted a towering grand slam off Padres starter Michael King to make it 6-5 in the top of the third.
But after that early frenzy of scoring, the Padres pitching unit took over and closed out a win, which gives them the chance to seal victory in the best-of-five National League Division Series in game four on Wednesday. The Padres, who blitzed the Dodgers 10-2 in an ill-tempered game two on Sunday, once again turned on the offensive power early on. Fernando Tatis Jr's two-run home run off Walker Buehler completed a second inning catastrophe for the Dodgers, who squandered the opportunity to take early outs through fielding mistakes from Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas.
Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani -- the home run hero of his team's game one victory -- once again struggled to make an impression on the Padres pitching, finishing with just one hit from four at bats. "Just amazing. What can I say? It's a beautiful time to be here," an elated Tatis said after the win.
"We've.