Blake Snell limited his former team to five hits in six innings of work, as the Padres relinquished the NL West lead to the Dodgers with a 6-0 loss Saturday.
A shaky Dylan Cease issued six walks over the first two innings, giving up five runs on just one hit. The free passes were costly as the Padres outhit the Dodgers on the night, with six to L.A.’s five.
Michael Conforto had a two-run single in the first for Los Angeles (70-53), which pulled even with San Diego (69-54) by winning the opener Friday. The Padres had taken sole possession of first place in the division Wednesday.
Cease (5-11) gave up two hits but walked six in 3 1/3 innings. Three of the five runs he allowed were earned.
The first three Dodgers batters of the game – Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Will Smith – all walked and scored in the first inning.
Still, Cease was one out away from escaping the mess down just 1-0 until Conforto grounded a single into right field for a 3-0 lead.
“I mean, Dylan’s been good since the All-Star break, you know, he wasn’t as sharp tonight,” said manager Mike Shildt.
Ohtani and Smith also walked in the second and scored when Jackson Merrill dropped Freddie Freeman’s flyball at the warning track in right-center field.
“Our defense has been outstanding. Those guys have been phenomenal. Our outfield’s been as good any anybody in the league, and some days, you know, balls fall,” Shildt said.
The Padres also made mistakes on the base paths.
The Dodgers recorded three of their first four outs of the game on stolen-base attempts, as Smith threw out Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts at second base in the first two innings.
That helped Snell (3-1), making his first start against the Padres after leaving the club following the 2023 season, when he won the NL Cy Young Award. He walked two and struck out three.
Teoscar Hernandez hit his 20th homer of the season in the fifth. Tatis had two of the Padres’ six hits.
Yu Darvish (2-3, 5.61 ERA) and Tyler Glasnow (1-1, 3.08) face off Sunday afternoon as the Padres try to salvage a win in the finale of the three-game series.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
