The first meeting this season between the Padres and Dodgers was unhinged from the start.
“That game was sick,” Jackson Merrill said. “I don’t care what anyone says. We didn’t win. That sucks. But that was an unbelievable baseball game. Back and forth all game.”
Monday night’s game at brimming Petco Park did finally settle down, though it got no less tense, all the way to the 10th inning.
That is when the Dodgers scored twice against Wandy Peralta and held on to beat the Padres 8-7.
Andy Pages led off the 10th with a double lined over the head of left fielder Brandon Lockridge’s head that scored automatic runner Max Muncy, and Tommy Edman drove in Pages with a single up the middle.
The Padres got one of those runs back in the 10th on Merrill’s one-out double that scored Luis Arraez. But Dodgers closer Tanner Scott ended the game on Gavin Sheets’ pop out and a fly ball to center field by Xander Bogaerts.
“They punched, we punched,” Padres manager MIke Shildt said. “I mean, it’s the typical game we play against them. And many more to come. … They executed and got the one more hit in the 10th.”
The Padres were able to not let the game get away after a throwing error by Adrián Morejón in the eighth inning and two misplays on balls in the fourth inning. So when the 10th inning was not all it might have been in part because of a call the Padres felt was wrong, Shildt could not muster too much angst.
“You mean the ball-four call,” Shildt said of home plate umpire Mike Estabrook ringing up Manny Machado for the first out of the 10th on a full-count pitch that did seem to miss. “It was off the plate. … We had a lot of other opportunities to do some things in that game.”
Manny Machado did not take too kindly to a called strike. Ump Cam FTW. pic.twitter.com/HRXfZgnzkC
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) June 10, 2025
The scoring in the top of the 10th followed 4½ innings of zeroes. That was quite the lull considering what transpired in the first 4½ innings.
There were 11 runs and three lead changes in the first three innings.
The Dodgers scored twice in the top of the first, the Padres twice in the bottom of the first.
The Padres took a 3-2 lead in the second.
The Dodgers went back up 5-3 in the top of the third. The Padres regained the lead and were ahead 6-5 when that inning ended.
After a scoreless fourth inning, the Dodgers tied the game in the fifth.
That is the short version of a long first half of the game.
The Padres scored their first six runs against Dustin May, who finished five innings.
Padres starting pitcher Nick Pivetta was done after four innings, having allowed five runs on eight hits.
That was two fewer runs than he had allowed in 37⅓ innings in his first six home starts.
“Could have gotten ahead a little bit better, earlier on, made some better pitches,” said Pivetta departed with the Padres up by a run.
The Dodgers tied the game against Yuki Matsui in the fifth before Sean Reynolds worked a scoreless sixth and Jeremiah Estrada a perfect seventh inning.
Morejón replaced Estrada with one out in the eight, struck out Enrique Hernandez and got Shohei Ohtani to hit a slow comebacker to the mound. But Morejón threw wide of first base, and Ohtani made it to second. After intentionally walking Mookie Betts, Morejón struck out Freddie Freeman.
Robert Suarez worked a 1-2-3 ninth.
The Padres (37-28) fell to third in the National League West, two games behind the Dodgers (40-27) and a half-game in back of the Giants (38-28).
These teams may very well meet in the postseason for the fourth time in six years. But this was hardly a playoff preview.
Presumably, the Dodgers will have some combination of the three frontline starting pitchers that are on the injured list and/or will have traded for one or two more.
The Padres will likely be hitting better if they are playing in October and will also have filled some holes at the trade deadline.
But it has been the case for much of this decade that the atmosphere at Petco Park whenever the Dodgers roll in is practically October-like. The ballpark was sold out, as usual, on Monday but was also hosting a sizable collection of fans dressed in blue.
For a while, it seemed as if those rooting for the home team were shocked into relative silence.
The first substantial “Beat L.A.” chant was not heard until after Tyler Wade’s bases-loaded triple in the fifth inning.
But that is jumping ahead.
A lead-off double by Ohtani and one-out double by Freeman, both with two strikes, gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.
They added on with help from Machado’s bounced throw to first base that got past Arraez.
Freeman moved to third on that grounder by Teoscar Hernandez, which would have been the second out, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Will Smith.
Being down early is less of an issue to the Padres than most.
They entered the game as the only team in the major leagues with a winning record (12-11) when allowing the game’s first run.
Their 17 comeback victories were tied for sixth most in the majors. And that included nine comebacks from multi-run deficits.
They came back from this one quickly.
Singles by Fernando Tatis Jr. and Arraez and a double by Machado halved the Dodgers’ lead, and Merrill tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
After Pivetta pitched his only clean inning, Jake Cronenworth led off the bottom of the second with a walk. He moved to second on Wade’s sacrifice bunt and third on a lineout to right field by Elias Díaz before Tatis walked. On the first pitch to Arraez, Tatis took off for second, drawing a throw from catcher Smith — a throw that bounced into center field and allowed Cronenworth to run home.
Betts lined the first pitch of the third inning into left field, and Freeman lined the second pitch to right field to give the Dodgers runners at the corners. Hernandez drove in Betts with a sacrifice fly and Smith followed with a two-run homer.
Machado began the bottom of the third with a hard single inside the bag at third, and Merrill followed with a walk. Bogaerts also drew a walk with one out before Cronenworth popped out in foul territory, bringing Wade to the plate.
Wade was behind 1-2 when he lined a sweeper near the bottom of the zone into right-center field. Hernandez made a diving attempt to catch it but had the ball roll past him as the bases cleared and Wade got to third base.
Just two more Padres — Sheets on a one-out single in the fifth and Tatis on a two-out walk in the ninth — reached base before the 10th.
“It wasn’t a pretty game, to be quite honest,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But we found a way to win. Got some hits when we needed to, made some pitches when we needed to. And, you know, here against this ballclub, we’ll take it any way we can get it.”
