Padres pile on late to convincing win over Dodgers

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 26: Walker Buehler #10 of the San Diego Padres pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the third inning at Petco Park on June 26, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) | Getty Images Walker Buehler made his first start as a member of the San Diego Padres against his former team and the right-hander delivered in what turned out to be a 7-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park on Friday night. Dawning the new City Connect 2.0 uniform; Buehler took the mound and delivered another solid performance with 5.1 innings. He allowed one run, a solo home run to Mookie Betts in the top of the second inning, on just three hits with three walks and five strikeouts. Was it a perfect performance? No, but it was what the Padres needed to contain a potent Dodgers lineup.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Ty France hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the second inning to put San Diego ahead, 3-1, but there was no way to know at the time that would be the game-winning hit. Both sides had opportunities throughout the game to add to their run totals, but solid pitching performances and good defense from both teams kept the score at 3-1 until the bottom of the eighth inning when the Padres tacked on four insurance runs, giving Mason Miller the night off while giving the Dodgers a series-opening loss.

class="wp-block-paragraph">San Diego loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the eighth with a single and back-to-back walks. Sung-Mun Song hit a well-placed groundball back through the infield that scored two runs, but France was thrown out trying to go first to third on the play. The play on France allowed Song to move up to second to keep a runner in scoring position with two outs and the score, 5-1. Rodolfo Duran scored Song and replaced him at second base with a double to make the score, 6-1 and Fernando Tatis Jr. capped the scoring with a line drive to center field that brought Duran in to push the score to 7-1.

class="wp-block-paragraph">The relievers who came on for San Diego behind Buehler were the story of the game until the Padres erupted for four runs in the eighth. Yuki Matsui pitched 0.2 innings and allowed one hit and one walk, which was intentional to load the bases, but then he got Max Muncy to pop out and Kyle Tucker to flyout to end the inning. Jason Adam pitched a scoreless seventh inning and recorded a strikeout and Adrian Morejon worked around two hits to complete a scoreless eighth inning. It was setup for Miller to close the game in the ninth, but with four runs added on, San Diego went to Wandy Peralta and the lefty pitched a scoreless ninth inning while allowing a hit to secure the win for the Padres.

class="wp-block-paragraph">San Diego takes on Los Angeles for the second game of the series tonight at 5:40 p.m.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Padres News:

Jake Cronenworth began his rehab assignment with the El Paso Chihuahuas after being sidelined since May with concussion-like symptoms and in his return, he crushed a 400-plus foot home run.The Padres pursued Roki Sasaki heavily in free agency before he decided to sign with the Dodgers and his start against San Diego on Friday reminded the Friar Faithful about the disappointment with how the pursuit ended.The Padres added some infield depth to their system, signing veteran Luis Rengifo to a minor league deal.After being sent back to the minors following a brief stint with the big-league club, Nick Solak has elected free agency.Baseball News:

The good news is that both the MLB owners and the MLBA continue to negotiate. The bad news is they still are not close to reaching an agreement, which is to be expected at this point in the process. Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball provides details on the latest proposal.The Boston Red Sox got a chippy 6-1 win over the New York Yankees. The Chicago White Sox thumped the Kansas City Royals with a 22-1 win.Jacob Misiorowski unleashed a 105.5 mph pitch to Pete Crow-Armstrong and led the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs.Derek Hill went high above the wall to take a home run away from Juan Soto and helped the Philadelphia Phillies get a 2-1 win over the New York Mets.Connor Griffin homered in his return from the IL, but it was not enough to help the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds.The Minnesota Twins knocked off the Colorado Rockies in extra innings.