Overview

• Los Angeles beat San Diego 8-2, capped by Shohei Ohtani’s 409-foot, 45th home run, pulling the defending champions into a tie atop the NL West with 31 games remaining and securing a 9-4 season-series tiebreaker over the Padres.
• Freddie Freeman homered in back-to-back innings, rookie Dalton Rushing blasted a go-ahead three-run shot in the seventh, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto logged six innings of two-run ball for his 11th win.
• The Dodgers’ late breakout followed two lean offensive games and a season marked by injuries and inconsistency, as Dave Roberts emphasized targeted fixes over a broad team meeting.
• Ohtani’s week also included a rough start against the Rockies (four innings, five earned runs), highlighting the ongoing challenge of managing his two-way workload down the stretch.
• In the NL East, the Mets host the first-place Phillies with Kodai Senga set to face Cristopher Sánchez; New York is seven games back in the division, 1.5 games ahead of the Reds for the final wild card, and Philadelphia’s 37-25 run since June 13 has also positioned it for a first-round bye.