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Dodgers explode for 9-run 6th inning to rout Padres

June 28, 2026

SAN DIEGO – When the Dodgers’ offense gets going, it really gets going.

The Dodgers broke open a tie game with a nine-run sixth inning featuring three home runs and routed the San Diego Padres 15-3 Saturday night.

“It was a great offensive game we had today,” said Tommy Edman who drove in runs with a double and a triple. “That sixth inning, we just did a lot of damage. We were kind of taking good at-bats throughout the game, and then just exploded in that inning. And it’s just a good indication of how good our offense is, and we can just come through and explode at any time.”

The Dodgers have scored 34 runs while winning four of the first five games on this road trip – 27 of them in two games (Tuesday in Minnesota and Saturday in San Diego).

“They don’t carry over. But it was good to see,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of preferring to spread the offense out more consistently. “The energy was good. It was good to tack on. Mookie continues to surge, so that was fun to see also. Big homer right there.

“Yeah, you’d like it to be spread out more but unfortunately that’s not our choice.”

Kyle Tucker and Dalton Rushing hit back-to-back home runs in the big inning and Mookie Betts hit a three-run home run, his third consecutive game with a home run. Each of the nine starters in the Dodgers’ lineup scored a run during the sixth-inning eruption.

You couldn’t see it coming. The game was a 1-1 pitchers’ duel for the first five innings.

The Dodgers struck first with the help of some questionable outfield defense by the Padres.

Fernando Tatis Jr. made a diving attempt at Max Muncy’s line drive to right field and came up empty. The ball went past him for Muncy’s first triple of the season.

Edman followed with a fly ball to center field. Jackson Merrill seemed to underestimate how much the ball would carry and it went over his head, landing on the warning track and going for an RBI double.

The Dodgers did no more damage for a while. But Yoshinobu Yamamoto was pitching like he wouldn’t need it.

Yamamoto retired the first six Padres batters in order and gave up just two hits in the first four innings

His first pitch of the fifth, though, was a fat fastball down the middle that Gavin Sheets jumped on and sent 414 feet to straightaway center field, tying the game at 1-1.

“That wasn’t my best pitch,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter. “I wanted to locate the ball a little bit in. But that ended up in a bad spot.”

It didn’t matter. That was the last time the Dodgers and Padres were in close proximity.

Freddie Freeman started the decisive sixth inning with a double. He scored when Padres second baseman Will Wagner booted Muncy’s ground ball. Muncy scored when Edman lined a triple off the right field wall.

Tucker worked a nine-pitch at-bat against Randy Vasquez, hitting the final pitch on a line into the right field seats for his first extra-base hit since June 15. He was 5 for 26 in between but had two singles to go with his home run Saturday for his first three-hit game since June 3 and a season-high four RBIs.

“It’s tough. I mean you just have to try and stay positive as much as you can, because, I mean, we played a game tonight. It was great, we’re gonna enjoy the win, but you got another game tomorrow and you have to move on to that,” Tucker said of living with his disappointing performance through the first half of the season. “Anything that happened yesterday, you gotta move on. Do your best at that, move on to the next game, and try to improve and try to help your team win.

“It sucks sometimes, but you can only do so much. I’m trying my best out there. I want to help our team win. I don’t really necessarily care about my personal stats. As long as we’re winning games and I’m able to contribute to that, that’s all I can really try and do.”

Roberts said he sees Tucker’s frustration at not being able to put up his usual numbers. But “he’s handled it well.”

“He’s frustrated certainly. But he hasn’t run from the work,” Roberts said. “Even last night after the game, he was hitting in the cage. On the last bus, hitting in the cage. … He’s playing good defense out there.

“You hear the word ‘grind’ a lot but he’s grinding. It’s good to see him have some success. I just liked that one at-bat tonight (ending in the home run) where it was just compete. It wasn’t about mechanics. It was about competing and getting the job done.”

Rushing got a 2-and-2 cutter over the plate and hit it into the seats for his home run and flipped the bat in obvious relief. Since Will Smith went out with a neck injury and Rushing stepped into the starting catcher’s role, he has gone just 10 for 52 (.192).

Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Freeman’s second time around. He drove in a run with a groundout and Betts followed with his home run to cap the inning.

Before the Dodgers piled on with four more runs in the eighth and another in the ninth, the Padres chipped away with single runs in the sixth and seventh innings. The seventh inning was the most troublesome for the Dodgers.

Kyle Hurt entered and retired the first batter he faced but then gave up two hits and walked two, leaving the bases loaded for Alex Vesia. In 8⅔ innings this month, Hurt has walked nine batters and given up 11 hits.

Orange County Register

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Dodgers explode for 9-run 6th inning to rout Padres

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