Fernando Tatis Jr’s towering two-run homer on Tuesday night highlighted a six-run second inning, as the San Diego Padres held on to beat Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 to take a 2-1 lead in a tense National League Division Series (NLDS), while the New York Mets topped the Philadelphia Phillies in their Game 3.
The Padres moved within one victory of eliminating the Dodgers in the NLDS for the second time in three seasons.
A rally towel-waving record crowd of 47,744 at Petco Park roared as Robert Suarez struck out Gavin Lux on a full-count pitch to complete a four-out save.
Photo: AP
Tatis said he feeds off the crowd’s energy.
“I feel like I take it to another level; my mindset, my body. Everything is through the roof,” he said.
“He likes it,” manager Mike Shildt said. “He’s one of the many guys on our team that appreciates and enjoys bright lights and embraces it. He just wants to go play and perform.”
Tatis’ impressive homer gave the Padres a 6-1 lead, but Teoscar Hernandez hit a grand slam with one out in the third off Michael King to bring the Dodgers within a run.
Mookie Betts also homered for the Dodgers to break an 0-for-22 playoff slump, but apparently thought left fielder Jurickson Profar had robbed him like he did in Sunday night’s 10-2 Padres win at Dodger Stadium, when tempers flared on the field and in the stands.
Betts rounded first and headed toward the dugout before teammates and even King motioned that it was a homer.
Tatis’ shot into the left-field seats was his third of the series, leaving him one shy of the NLDS record held by Carlos Beltran (2004, Houston Astros) and Nick Castellanos (last year, Philadelphia). Tatis had two of San Diego’s six homers on Sunday night.
The flamboyant Tatis stood for a few seconds and watched the ball sail out of the yard, flipped his bat and gestured toward the dugout before beginning his trot.
“When I hit it I just blacked out, started screaming at my dugout. Energy through the roof,” the dreadlocked Dominican said.
“I made a bad 0-2 pitch and he does what he does,” losing pitcher Walker Buehler said.
Game 3 was not Buehler’s only recent loss.
Police on Tuesday reported that thieves had slipped an expensive watch off his wrist as he jostled through the crowd outside a horse racing track in a Los Angeles suburb on Sept. 28.
Police said that two similar episodes were reported the same day, adding that the value of two of the watches were US$100,000 and US$250,000 respectively, without saying which was Buehler’s.
In New York on Tuesday night, Pete Alonso launched another homer off Aaron Nola, and Sean Manaea took a two-hit shutout into the eighth inning as the Mets beat the Phillies 7-2.
Jesse Winker also went deep and Starling Marte had a pivotal two-run single to help the wild-card Mets, playing their first home game in 16 days, grab a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five set.
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