Juan Soto hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the ninth inning as the visiting San Diego Padres rallied from an early five-run deficit to earn an 11-8 victory Monday over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Manny Machado hit two home runs against his former team and Xander Bogaerts also hit a home run in the ninth as the Padres (68-77) defeated the Dodgers for just the third time in 11 meetings.
Mookie Betts hit a home run and drove in four runs and Max Muncy added a home run for the Dodgers (87-56), who led 7-2 after three innings.
Dodgers rookie right-hander Gavin Stone struggled while replacing Clayton Kershaw in the rotation, giving up seven runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings. Kershaw had his next start pushed back to Saturday as he works on mechanical adjustments to help with diminished velocity.
Padres starter Pedro Avila gave up seven runs on six hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings. Robert Suarez (3-2) pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the win.
After Soto gave the Padres a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single, Betts’ 39th homer of the season tied the game. The Dodgers got a run in the second when Miguel Rojas was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, with the Padres tying it again on an RBI groundout from Ha-Seong Kim in the third.
The Dodgers erupted for five runs in the third inning and a 7-2 lead on Muncy’s 35th home run, an RBI single from Chris Taylor and a three-run double from Betts.
The Padres tied it 7-7 by getting two runs in the fourth and three more in the sixth. Machado’s two homers, one in the fourth and one in the sixth, helped San Diego get within a run before Matthew Batten’s RBI double off Caleb Ferguson tied it. It was Machado’s 38th career multi-homer game.
In the ninth inning against Dodgers right-hander Evan Phillips (1-4), Trent Grisham led off with a fly ball to left center that was dropped when outfielders Taylor and James Outman bumped gloves as the ball arrived. Two batters later, Fernando Tatis Jr. reached base when Phillips dropped his comebacker.
Soto’s 29th home run of the season came one batter later to make it 10-7, with Bogaerts adding his 18th two batters later.
J.D. Martinez had an RBI single in the ninth inning for the Dodgers, who managed to load the bases down three. But Taylor lined out to Bogaerts at shortstop to end the game.
Los Angeles is 4-6 in September after a 24-5 August.
–Field Level Media