Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After starting the series and homestand with a wild game yesterday, the Dodgers and Padres appeared to have settled in for something more conventional today. I would’ve preferred it to be a pitchers’ duel, but the Padres got to Shohei Ohtani a bit and Michael King just dominated them in what looked like it’d be a simple loss.
Then the 7th inning happened, as the Dodgers knocked King out of the game, got lucky on a Jake Cronenworth error, and took advantage as Teoscar Hernandez provided playoff vibes by crushing a grand slam for the lead and a 4-3 comeback win.
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Shohei Ohtani has looked more human in his last three starts — with Dalton Rushing getting a lot of blame instead of his hand literally exploding leading to command decline (also, just luck) — and he started today as if to clarify the real issues he’s having. He walked the first two batters of the game, struck one out, then hung a sweep for a one-out single to Gavin Sheets to make it 1-0 Padres.
Go, Gavin, Go! pic.twitter.com/dP7CyJ4TwL
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 4, 2026
Following that, he did lock in and retired 10 in a row, including six strikeouts. However, that was abruptly ended in the 4th when Jackson Merrill hit a two-out homer to center that made it 2-0 Padres.
Sho ‘em how it’s done. pic.twitter.com/iwkWxIWbQG
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 4, 2026
After he got the last out of the 4th, he gave up one-out and two-out singles in the 5th but managed to navigate around that traffic. Ohtani then started the 6th with two outs, but couldn’t get the last one as he gave up a single and then a double to Xander Bogaerts that scored another run to make it 3-0 Padres.
An infield single followed to put a pair on again, and a stolen base put both in scoring position, and then he took eight pitches to get the nine-hitter to pop-out to finally complete his outing.
Not sharp, and when you brute force starts with stuff, sometimes they fall in: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 9 K, 110 Pitches.
There’s an uncomfortable truth in all this Rushing discourse that makes it harder to just cope by blaming him, and it’s time people come to terms with it.
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On the other side, Michael King started like he might throw a perfect game. He retired the first 11 in a row he faced and did so with minimal effort before Freddie Freeman ended that dream in the 4th with a two-out single. He rebounded by getting the last out of that inning, and got a clean 5th. However, in the 6th he gave up a lead-off single and then walked a batter with two outs, but that also resulted in nothing.
Trying to hit off King tonight, summarized: pic.twitter.com/w5dwSXG2bX
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) July 4, 2026
I had basically accepted a loss at that point, not in a doomer way, but just in an accepting your fate way.
The Dodgers did not agree with doing that. Mookie Betts started the 7th with a walk, Max Muncy followed with a single to put a pair on, and that was it for King despite throwing just 75 pitches.
A bit controversial but it was for Adrian Morejon, one of the best relievers in baseball, so probably valid. He got Kyle Tucker to ground to second for a tailor-made double play ball, but Jake Cronenworth kicked it and everybody was safe.
Jake Cronenworth MVP pic.twitter.com/spmzyiNZy4
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) July 4, 2026
That took one pitch to come back and bite them, as Teoscar Hernandez stepped up sitting on a slider and got one in the middle of the zone, annihilating a grand slam to turn the game around just like that and give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. Joe Davis with the foreshadowing.
Sorry, I wasn't in my right mind and wanted to post something. https://t.co/esRYpmLbiB pic.twitter.com/6hLBtFFd8E
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) July 4, 2026
They didn’t add after that despite a walk, double, and intentional walk because the first walk (Tommy Edman) got picked off. They also stranded a one-out walk in the 8th against Bradgley Rodriguez, but obviously the damage was done at that point.
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Meanwhile, the Dodgers bullpen now had a task to do.
Before they took the lead, Kyle Hurt did a suddenly important job in the 7th by working around a one-out single and walk with a double play to post a scoreless frame.
Then with the lead, it was Edgardo Henriquez in the 8th, and he continued his dominant stretch with a 1-2-3 frame.
Tanner Scott then entered for a save in the 9th … and well:
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58-31 … magic.
The series continues tomorrow at the same time again of 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the bump against Griffin Canning.
