Nothing separated the teams for six innings. Then the seventh inning swallowed the game whole. Manny Machado's three-run homer to center — 407 feet — turned a tight pitchers' duel into a 5-0 deficit that the Dodgers could not overcome, as the San Diego Padres took a 5-2 decision at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
JP Sears was the architect of the early quiet. He held Los Angeles to one hit over five scoreless innings, striking out five and walking two on 76 pitches. Sears improved to 2-1 with a 4.70 ERA. Mason Miller closed it out with a perfect ninth inning, striking out one, to record his 22nd save of the season.
San Diego broke through in the fourth when Jackson Merrill singled to right and Machado scored to give the Padres a 1-0 lead — the go-ahead run that the Dodgers never answered. The game cracked open in the seventh. Fernando Tatis reached on an infield single to third and Song scored to make it 2-0. Then Machado connected, sending Campusano and Tatis home ahead of him for a 5-0 advantage. Los Angeles answered in the bottom half: Alex Freeland singled to center and T. Hernández scored, then Shohei Ohtani singled to center and Tucker scored, pulling the Dodgers to 5-2. It was not enough.
Emmet Sheehan absorbed the loss, falling to 4-6. He allowed 1 run on 3 hits over 4.1 innings, walking 3 and striking out 5 on 96 pitches. The Dodgers managed just 4 hits on the night.
San Diego snapped an eight-game losing streak to move to 43-45. Los Angeles, despite the defeat, remains atop the division at 59-31. Ohtani, who drove in a run with a single, is now 2 home runs away from 300 in his career. Sears, meanwhile, is 20 strikeouts away from 500 for his career.