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The Los Angeles Dodgers reminded the San Diego Padres who still runs the NL West, clinching the season series with a 6-0 shutout win on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.
The victory not only pushed L.A. back into first place with a 70-53 record but also dropped San Diego (69-54) into second. The Dodgers have now won seven of nine matchups this year against their division rival.
The tone was set early. Teoscar Hernández drove in Shohei Ohtani on a sacrifice fly, followed by a two-run single from Michael Conforto in the first inning. Freddie Freeman added two more in the second after a misplayed ball in the outfield, and Hernández capped things with a solo homer in the fifth — his 20th of the year.
On the mound, Blake Snell thrived against his former team, spinning six shutout innings and striking out six on 96 pitches. The Padres’ baserunning miscues helped his cause, with Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, and Manny Machado all getting thrown out on steal attempts in the first two frames.
Dodgers reclaim first place from Padres on Saturday
“Yesterday was a really good baseball game, both sides of the ball, and today, I mean, it just got out of hand a little early in the game,” Bogaerts admitted postgame.
For San Diego, Dylan Cease unraveled almost immediately. He walked the first three batters he faced and gave up three runs before escaping the opening inning. By the fourth, Ohtani’s single chased him after 88 pitches — only 44 of them strikes. Cease allowed five runs (three earned), walked six, and struck out just two.
“Walks kill you,” Cease said. “At the end of the day, I didn’t really give us a chance.”
Cease’s inconsistency has plagued San Diego all year. While he’s shown ace-level flashes — including a June shutout of these same Dodgers — his 4.61 ERA highlights the volatility. On Saturday, it left the Padres’ bullpen covering another long night, just as Michael King hit the IL and Yu Darvish works back from elbow issues.
Snell, meanwhile, praised San Diego’s aggressiveness even as it backfired. “It’s respect,” he said. “Nobody knows me better than Ruben (Niebla)…they understand what the game’s going to be.”
The Padres’ offense never threatened beyond a couple of early singles. San Diego has largely played clean baseball this season, but the combination of defensive errors, reckless baserunning, and a starter implosion proved fatal with first place on the line.
Fans were quick to voice frustration online. “Picking the wrong time to start a scoreless innings streak again….” one wrote on X. Another summed it up bluntly: “Well that sucks.”
The two clubs wrap up the series Sunday with Yu Darvish facing Tyler Glasnow, before meeting again next weekend in San Diego. For now, though, the Dodgers have reasserted control — and Padres fans are left wondering if their team can ever solve the division’s big brother.
