After a quiet series opener at Petco Park, the Dodgers' bats were the driving force behind a statement showing against their rivals to the south. A nine-run sixth inning that featured back-to-back homers from Kyle Tucker and Dalton Rushing and a three-run blast from Mookie Betts secured a 15-3 victory for the Dodgers on Saturday night, setting up a rubber game in Sunday's series finale. The nine runs that scored in the sixth inning were the most by the Dodgers in a single inning in a game in San Diego since they scored 10 in the third inning on June 28, 1969. Los Angeles has had three nine-run innings through its first 83 games this season, tied for the second-most such innings in a season in franchise history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Brooklyn had four nine-run innings in 1890 and 1943. "That sixth inning, we just did a lot of damage," said Tommy Edman, who went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. "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 outpouring of offense was more than enough run support for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who tossed six innings of two-run ball. The Padres turned to left-hander Kyle Hart to open the game in front of their originally scheduled starter, right-hander Randy Vásquez, with the idea of preventing Vásquez from facing the top of the order three times. That arrangement more or less served its purpose through five innings. Hart surrendered the game's first run after giving up a triple to Max Muncy followed by an RBI double to Edman in the second inning, but that was the only damage he allowed in one turn through the order. Vásquez pitched three scoreless innings to begin his outing, but he managed to record only one out in the sixth before the Dodgers knocked him from the game. Freddie Freeman led off the frame with a double to the gap in right-center. He came home two batters later, when Padres second baseman Will Wagner failed to handle a grounder off the bat of Muncy. The inning seemed to snowball on San Diego after the fielding error.
