LOS ANGELES — Teoscar Hernandez hit a go-ahead grand slam off pitcher Adrian Morejon in the seventh inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for the second straight game to beat the San Diego Padres 4-3 on Friday night.
Trailing 3-0, Hernandez sent Morejon (6-2) a 90 mph slider over the center field wall on his first pitch. Mookie Betts walked and Max Muncy singled to chase starter Michael King.
Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth scored on Kyle Tucker’s grounder, which turned a potential double play ball into the bases loaded with no outs. Muncy was safe in second on an error and Betts moved to third, giving Hernandez his sixth career grand slam.
The Dodgers came back from a 6-0 deficit to win 12-7 in Thursday’s series opener.
Kyle Hurt (3-1) earned the win with one scoreless inning. Tanner Scott came out of the game in the ninth and earned his 12th save.
King retired the first 11 batters he faced, striking out Dodgers starter Shohei Ohtani. The first hit allowed was Freddie Freeman’s two-out single in the fourth, extending the batter’s hitting streak to 18 straight games.
Pitching on eight days’ rest, Ohtani allowed three runs and seven hits on a season-high 110 pitches – 73 for strikes – over six innings. He struck out nine. The designated hitter hit no hits before being replaced in the seventh.
Ohtani’s first six pitches of the game were fly balls, and he struck out just one against the first two batters. Gavin Sheets’ RBI single was the first run Ohtani allowed in the first inning this season. He had a scoreless ERA in the first inning.
Jackson Merrill’s two-out single extended San Diego’s lead to 2-0 in the fourth.
Ohtani’s start was moved up from Wednesday to give him extra rest during a streak of 13 games in 13 days. He has pain in his left knee and a callus on the middle finger of his right hand.
Further
Padres RHP Griffin Canning (1-5, 7.09 ERA) starts Saturday against Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamato (8-5, 2.67).
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