San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers

Anyone who flipped the channel or walked away from their screen after the top of the second inning could hardly be blamed. Trailing by six runs to a division rival before even recording six defensive outs is usually a signal to call it a night. Instead, the Dodgers put together a steady rally, turning an early blowout into a 12-7 win over the Padres on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium. The comeback marked the Dodgers’ second-largest margin of victory in a game they trailed by six or more runs since at least 1900, trailing only a 12-6 win over the Braves on May 13, 1951. It was also their first comeback win of at least six runs since July 13, 2022, in St. Louis. The initial deficit rested heavily on the shoulders of starter Roki Sasaki. Looking to bounce back from a rough performance against these same Padres just six days prior, Sasaki struggled to find his rhythm early. The Padres attacked his pitch mix from the jump, striking quickly on a first-inning, two-run homer by Manny Machado before lashing a solo shot from Jackson Merrill and a three-run blast by Jake Cronenworth in the second. Sasaki pitched three innings, surrendering seven hits, two walks and six earned runs on 88 pitches. While he recovered to strike out the side in the third, three home runs surrendered on the night ultimately forced an early call to the bullpen. Manager Dave Roberts noted that the team plans to run a deep dive into Sasaki's performance to see if the Padres had a tactical advantage. "They were on everything Roki threw," Roberts said. "You could see it. We're going to do a little dive and see if he was tipping his pitches. There's a little bit of adjustment you need to make, but you look at some of the pitches -- they weren't good pitches either. You still got to make good pitches." Sasaki was candid about the hurdle of navigating the lineup twice in under a week. "Last outing, I was not able to execute my pitches and I fell behind the count," Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo. "This time I was able to execute my pitches at some point, but still, like I say, there are a lot of things involved \[as to\