LOS ANGELES – Jackson Merrill homered in the 11th inning, Fernando Tatis Jr. singled and had three hits, and the San Diego Padres rallied for an 8-7 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night despite Shohei Ohtani to have hit his 175th homer. run in the majors.
Tatis Jr. hit a two-run shot in the seventh inning to tie it at 7-all. Manny Machado, Ha-Seong Kim and Jake Cronenworth also went deep for the Padres, who trailed 7-3 after three innings.
With José Azocar the automatic runner in the 11th, Vázquez hit two base hits to left field off Alex Vesia (0-2) to advance.
Robert Suarez (1-0) threw 1 1/3 hitless innings for the win.
San Diego won its first extra game this season. The Padres lost their first 12 games last year before winning two in the final week of the season.
“The guys had good hits and Tatis had the big hit,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “Jackson found a way in the 11th inning on a tough lefty and was down 0-2 to do it. It’s something he also showed several times during the season.”
In the first inning, Ohtani launched a lofted outside fastball from Michael King 403 feet into the center field bleachers, closing the Dodgers to 2-1. Ohtani tied Hideki Matsui for the most home runs by a Japanese-born player.
“Honestly, I’m so honored to be a part of this. I’m sure this is a big deal in the baseball industry as well,” Ohtani said through an interpreter.
Ohtani is batting .457 (16-for-35) during his eight-game hitting streak, including four homers, 12 extra-base hits and seven RBIs.
On Friday afternoon, a federal judge in Los Angeles ordered Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s former longtime interpreter, to undergo treatment for gambling addiction in a sports betting case stemming from allegations that he stole $16 million from Ohtani’s bank account to pay off debts.
Mookie Betts became the fourth major league player to hit six home runs this season, while Teoscar Hernández and Max Muncy also went the distance.
“At times we were very good at collecting hits and keeping the line moving. And then it seemed to me that in the last few innings we expanded the zone and our swings got bigger when all you need is a base hit,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We didn’t do a good job controlling the attacking zone. We took the lead, but while they fought their way back, we could have done a better job finishing them off.
San Diego took a 2-0 lead in the first when Machado hit a first-pitch curveball from Yoshinobu Yamamoto into the stands in left center.
After Kim led off the second inning with a solo shot to make it 3-1, the Dodgers took the lead with four in home time. Muncy started the inning with a drive to right field and Betts gave Los Angeles a 5-3 lead with a three-run shot to left center.
King looked like he was going to get out of the inning allowing just one run, but second baseman Xander Bogaerts started a routine grounder from Gavin Lux to put runners on first and second when Betts came up to bat.
Betts also made a leap near the stands in foul territory on the third base side on a ball hit by Luis Campusano.
Hernández gave the Dodgers a four-run lead in the fourth with a two-run line drive into the Padres’ bullpen in right field for the fifth time this season.
Cronenworth started the Padres’ rally with a solo shot in the sixth. San Diego tied it in the seventh with three runs on an RBI grounder by Bogaerts and homer by Tatis.
Both starters went five innings. Yamamoto allowed three runs, four hits and struck out six, while King gave up seven runs (three earned) on six hits with four strikeouts.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Dodgers: RHP Walker Buehler (elbow) was hit in the pitcher’s hand by a fielder in the second inning during a rehab start for Class A Rancho Cucamonga. Buehler was scheduled to throw about 80 pitches.
NEXT
San Diego RHP Matt Waldron (0-1, 3.86 ERA) will be opposed by Los Angeles RHP Gavin Stone (0-1, 7.88 ERA) on Saturday night.
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