Mookie Betts hit two solo home runs and Max Muncy added a homer and a two-run single as the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers scored a 6-1 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday in the opener of a three-game series.
Julio Urias (1-1), the first of six Dodgers pitchers, held the Padres to one run on two hits and three walks with six strikeouts in five innings. The Padres managed just four hits overall.
Betts, who entered the game without a home run, pounded a pitch into the upper deck in left leading off the fifth inning against Padres starter Nick Martinez (0-2) to tie the game 1-1. Three hitters later, Muncy homered just over the leap of right fielder Wil Myers.
Muncy had the big hit in a three-run seventh as the first four Dodgers batters in the inning reached base.
Betts drew a leadoff walk from Nabil Crismatt. Tim Hill replaced Crismatt and gave up three straight hits, starting with Freddie Freeman’s grounder to left that beat the shift. Trea Turner’s infield single loaded the bases.
Muncy then lined a single to center, driving in Betts and Freeman with Trea Turner moving to third. Justin Turner then made it 5-1, greeting reliever Dinelson Lamet with a sacrifice fly to left, though the Padres turned it into a double play when Muncy was retired attempting to move to second base.
Betts completed the scoring with a homer in the ninth off Craig Stammen. Betts finished 2-for-3 with three runs and two walks while leading off all five odd-numbered innings in the game.
The Padres had taken a 1-0 lead against Urias in the second. Jurickson Profar drew a one-out walk, moved to third on Eric Hosmer’s single and scored when the Dodgers couldn’t turn a double play on Myers’ grounder to short.
Martinez gave up two runs on four hits and five walks with four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. The right-hander walked the bases loaded with one out in the third but escaped the jam by getting Justin Turner to ground into a double play.
–Field Level Media
