Los Angeles Dodgers' Dalton Rushing tosses his bat after hitting a three-run home run against the San Diego Padres in the seventh inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Derrick Tuskan)

Freeman, Rushing power Dodgers’ 8-2 victory over Padres to even the NL West race once again

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Freddie Freeman homered in back-to-back innings, rookie Dalton Rushing hit a tiebreaking three-run shot in the seventh, and the Los Angeles Dodgers evened the NL West race once again with an 8-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday.

Shohei Ohtani hit his 45th homer in the ninth inning and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (11-8) yielded four hits over six strong innings for the Dodgers, who salvaged the last game of their final regular-season series with the Padres after managing just two runs while losing the first two and falling out of first.

The Southern California archrivals are now even at 74-57 with 31 games left.

Backup catcher Elias Díaz hit a two-run homer in the third, but the Padres’ five-game winning streak ended after Jeremiah Estrada (4-5) gave up a homer for the second straight day out of San Diego’s usually formidable bullpen.

Shortly after Rushing’s third career homer, Freeman — who hit a tying solo shot in the sixth off Nick Pivetta — added a two-run blast off Wandy Peralta.

Ohtani was hitless in the series until he crushed a fastball from Yuki Matsui.

Pivetta pitched six innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts, retiring 16 of 17 before Freeman’s first homer.

He provided the third straight outstanding effort by the Padres’ starters against LA. Pivetta, Yu Darvish and Nestor Cortes combined to allow just three runs on four hits over 18 innings.

But Yamamoto met the challenge, striking out six and keeping the defending World Series champions in it until their bats finally awoke.

Key moment

Rushing, the Dodgers’ backup catcher and No. 9 hitter, celebrated with gusto after hammering a full-count slider from Estrada.

Key stat

Mookie Betts had three hits for the Dodgers. After a rough stretch, he’s batting .348 since Aug. 5.

Up next

Emmet Sheehan (4-2, 4.17 ERA) faces LA native Hunter Greene on Monday when the Dodgers host Cincinnati.

The Padres visit Seattle on Monday. They haven’t named a starter.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto follows through on a pitch against the San Diego Padres in the fourth inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Derrick Tuskan)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman (5) celebrates with Miguel Rojas (72) after hitting a solo home run against the San Diego Padres in the sixth inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Derrick Tuskan)
San Diego Padres’ Elias Diaz, right, celebrates with Fernando Tatis Jr. after hitting a two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Derrick Tuskan)
San Diego Padres’ Nick Pivetta watches a fly ball hit to center field by Los Angeles Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez in the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Derrick Tuskan)

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