The Dodgers trailed 6-0 after an inning and a half Thursday night and won 12-7, scoring 12 unanswered runs against a San Diego club that has now lost six in a row. Catcher Dalton Rushing went 4-for-4 with a two-run home run and four RBI, and Kyle Tucker matched him with four hits of his own, reaching base five times. Andy Pages tied the game with a two-run double in the fourth, part of a four-run inning that put Los Angeles ahead for good.
The win continued a stretch in which the Dodgers, now 57-31, have taken eight of their last ten. But the start that made the rally necessary may prove the night’s more consequential development. Roki Sasaki lasted three innings and allowed six runs on seven hits, including home runs by Jackson Merrill, Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth. His ERA rose to 5.40. According to Dodgers Nation, manager Dave Roberts said afterward that the Padres “were on everything Roki threw” and that the club plans to review whether Sasaki was tipping his pitches.
That distinction is worth watching. Pitch tipping is a mechanical flaw — a glove position, a change in setup — that teams routinely identify on video and correct within a start or two. If the review finds evidence of it, Thursday becomes a footnote. If it doesn’t, the Dodgers are left with a starter carrying a 5.40 ERA into the second half, and a rotation question that matters considerably more in a playoff series than it does in July.
The bullpen kept the game from getting away while the lineup worked. Los Angeles relievers covered six innings after Sasaki’s exit and allowed one run: Will Klein earned the win with two innings, one hit and three strikeouts, and Alex Vesia, Edgardo Henriquez and Brock Stewart each turned in scoreless outings. For a team whose October ambitions are the season’s only real measuring stick, that depth — the ability to absorb a three-inning start without losing the game — was Thursday’s most transferable result.
