Padres, with 6-5 Win, Again Have Dodgers on Brink of Elimination in NLDS

Fernando Tatis Jr.’s towering two-run home run highlighted a six-run second inning as the Padres held on to beat the rival Dodgers 6-5 on Tuesday to take a 2-1 lead in a tense NL Division Series.

The Padres moved within one victory of eliminating the Dodgers in the best-of-five series for the second time in three seasons. Game 4 is 6:08 p.m. Wednesday at Petco Park, which was packed with a rally towel-waving record crowd of 47,744.

The fans roared as Robert Suarez, have gone 3-2 on Gavin Lux in the top of the ninth, struck him out to complete a four-out save.

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 and ratchet up the tension.

“It pays to have a good offense,” King said. “(I) hung a pitch to a really good hitter, which sucks, but (the) bullpen was incredible.”

Indeed. The score held without a serious threat from L.A. as four Padre relievers gave up just one hit between them over four innings.

“One of our biggest strengths on our team is or pitching and our bullpen,” Xander Bogaerts said. “King grinded and the bullpen kept that game right there.”

Tatis, as he often does, made it look easy. His 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).

The right fielder, who had two of San Diego’s six homers Sunday, 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.

“If I’m a fan, I’d pay every ticket for him,” Luis Arraez said. “He’s fun to watch, man.”

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.

Betts, breaking an 0-for-22 playoff slump, had given the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the first after some confusion.

He lofted a fly ball to the left-field corner with one out in the first at almost the same distance as he did in Dodger Stadium during Sunday’s 10-2 Padres win, when tempers flared on the field and in the stands.

Profar leaped then and reached into the crowd to make the catch. After Profar landed, he trolled fans by staring at them and bouncing up and down several times before throwing the ball to the infield.

Profar tried again Tuesday 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 even 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 losing pitcher Walker Buehler, who was making his first playoff start since Game 6 of the 2021 NLCS against Atlanta.

The first five Padres batters reached and scored. Bogaerts drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and David Peralta hit a two-run double. Kyle Higashioka hit a sacrifice fly and two batters layter 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 while throwing to second from his knees.

Buehler also went five innings, allowing six runs and seven hits with no strikeouts and one walk.

The runs by the Dodgers came after they loaded the bases on consecutive singles by Miguel Rojas, Shohei Ohtani and Betts before Hernández hit his towering shot to straight-away center.

Manager Mike Shildt said after the game that Dylan Cease will start Game 4 for the Padres. L.A. has yet to name a starter.

The Padres aren’t the only wild-card team with a division winner down 2-1. The Mets on Tuesday won against the Phillies, leaving them one win away from the National League Championship Series.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.