SAN DIEGO — Fernando Tatis Jr.’s towering two-run home 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 night to take a 2-1 lead in a tense NL Division Series.
The Padres moved within one victory of eliminating the Dodgers in the NLDS for the second time in three seasons. Game 4 is Wednesday night at Petco Park, which was packed with a rally towel-waving record crowd of 47,744.
The fans roared as Robert Suarez struck out Gavin Lux on a full-count pitch to complete a four-out save.
Tatis said he feeds off the crowd’s energy.
“I feel like I take it to another level; my mindset, my body. Everything is through the roof,” Tatis said.
“He likes it,” manager Mike Shildt said. “He’s one of the many guys on our team that appreciates and enjoys bright lights and embraces it. He just wants to go play and perform.”
Tatis’ impressive homer gave the Padres a 6-1 lead, but Teoscar Hernández hit a grand slam with one out in the third off Michael King to bring the Dodgers within a run.
Mookie Betts also homered for the Dodgers to break an 0-for-22 playoff slump, but apparently thought left fielder Jurickson Profar had robbed him like he did in Sunday night’s 10-2 Padres win at Dodger Stadium, when tempers flared on the field and in the stands. Betts rounded first and headed toward the dugout before teammates and even King motioned that it was a homer.
Tatis’ shot into the left-field seats was his third of the series, leaving him one shy of the NLDS record held by Carlos Beltran (2004, Houston) and Nick Castellanos (2023, Philadelphia). Tatis had two of San Diego’s six homers Sunday night. The flamboyant Tatis stood for a few seconds and watched the ball sail out of the yard, flipped his bat and gestured toward the dugout before beginning his trot.
“When I hit it I just blacked out, started screaming at my dugout. Energy through the roof,” the dreadlocked Dominican said.
“I made a bad 0-2 pitch and he does what he does,” said losing pitcher Walker Buehler.
In five playoff games, Tatis is 10 of 18 (.556) with a 1.969 OPS, four homers and no strikeouts.
King got his second win in as many playoff starts after allowing five runs and five hits in five innings, with three strikeouts and one walk. He was coming off a gem in the opening game of the Wild Card Series against Atlanta, when he became the first pitcher in history to have 12 strikeouts with no runs and no walks in a postseason debut in San Diego’s 4-0 win.
The Dodgers are on the brink of losing in the NLDS for the third straight season.
“I like how we fought after we came back after that six-run inning,” Freddie Freeman said. “I know Dodgers fans don’t want to hear about fighting and stuff but I think the positive is Mookie got some hits today and things are looking good.”
Betts gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the first after some confusion.
He lofted a flyball to the left-field corner with one out in the first inning at almost the same distance as he did in Dodger Stadium on Sunday night, when Profar leaped and reached into the crowd to make the catch. After Profar landed, he trolled the fans by staring at them and bouncing up and down several times before throwing the ball to the infield.
Profar leaped again Tuesday night but couldn’t bring it back, with the ball ticking off his glove and into the crowd. Betts rounded first and turned toward the dugout before he got to second. Betts’ teammates in the dugout, including Max Muncy, motioned for him to keep going and King gestured with his right arm that it was fair.
Betts resumed his trot after his first playoff hit since Game 3 of the 2022 NLDS against San Diego, which the Padres won in four games.
San Diego’s second-inning outburst came against Buehler, who was making his first playoff start since Game 6 of the NLCS against Atlanta. Buehler missed the 2023 season after undergoing a second Tommy John surgery in August 2022.
The first five Padres batters reached and scored. Xander Bogaerts drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and David Peralta hit a two-run double. Kyle Higashioka hit a sacrifice fly two batters before Tatis homered with two outs.
Manny Machado hit a leadoff single and ended up on third after first baseman Freeman fielded Jackson Merrill’s grounder and hit Machado on the left shoulder while throwing to second from his knees.
Buehler also went five innings, allowing six runs and seven hits with no strikeouts and one walk.
“You can’t give up six runs in an inning in the playoffs and expect to win,” Buehler said. “I put us in a really bad spot and we fought back, but the spot was too big.”
The Dodgers opened the third by loading the bases on consecutive singles by Miguel Rojas, Ohtani and Betts before Hernández hit a towering shot to straightaway center.
Ohtani went 1 for 4 and struck out twice. He hit a three-run homer in the Dodgers’ Game 1 victory but has been a nonfactor in the two losses, going 1 for 8 and fanning four times.
