Mookie Betts’ 3-run homer caps 9-run 6th inning as Dodgers beat Padres 15-3

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Mookie Betts’ three-run homer capped a nine-run sixth inning that also included consecutive shots by Kyle Tucker and Dalton Rushing as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 15-3 on Saturday night to even a series between the top two teams in the NL West.

Tucker added a two-run single in a four-run eighth and San Diegan Tommy Edman doubled, tripled and drove in three runs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-5) held the Padres to two runs and five hits in six innings as Los Angeles rebounded a night after losing 7-1 to former teammate Walker Buehler. The Dodgers pushed their division lead back to nine games and snapped San Diego’s four-game winning streak.

Betts homered into the Padres’ bullpen beyond the fence in left-center for a 10-1 lead and leaped in celebration between second and third base during his trot as thousands of Dodgers fans at Petco Park roared their approval. He’s homered in three straight games to give him 11 this season and 302 in his career.

Yamamoto allowed Gavin Sheets’ leadoff homer in the fifth that tied it at 1.

The Dodgers then broke it open in the sixth against Randy Vásquez (6-6), who followed opener Kyle Hart.

Freddie Freeman hit a leadoff double and came racing around to score the go-ahead run with one out when second baseman Will Wagner booted Max Muncy’s grounder for an error. Edman tripled in Muncy when his flyball caromed off an angled wall in the right-field corner and eluded Fernando Tatis Jr. Tucker and Rushing hit consecutive homers to make it 6-1.

The Dodgers loaded the bases before Freeman brought in a run on a groundout and Betts homered. Four of the nine runs were unearned due to the error by Wagner, the son of Hall of Fame closer Billy Wagner.

In the second, Edman doubled over the head of center fielder Jackson Merrill to bring in Muncy, who tripled when Tatis dove and missed his flyball.

Padres backup catcher Rodolfo Durán allowed one run and two hits in the ninth, his first pitching appearance at any professional level.

Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas retired the side in the ninth on five pitches.

Up next

Dodgers RHP Emmet Sheehan (3-5, 5.32 ERA) and Padres RHP Michael King (5-6, 3.33) are scheduled to start the series finale Sunday.

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