Who would have thought that when Miguel Andujar scored a run in the first on a solo homer, he’d be scoring the only one in this game as the Padres won it 1-0? Seldom throughout the course of the 2026 season did Yoshinobu Yamamoto find an opponent capable and effective in going toe-to-toe with him through a start—Michael King had something to say about that, as the Padres’ ace outdueled him, shutting down an offense that was just coming off scoring a whopping 31 runs in three games against the Angels,
sweeping their way through the first of three straight series away from home. With seven scoreless innings, King was able to maintain the smallest of leads, and the Padres’ bullpen closed the door despite some late scares.
For those of you who weren’t following the Padres all that closely as of yet, considering this is the first meeting between these clubs in 2026, King is at the core of these successful first few months that have the Padres battling the Dodgers for the NL West lead. The Padres’ starter, who came into this game having allowed no more than two earned runs in seven of his nine starts, faced the minimum through his first five innings, seeing the two base runners he allowed thrown out trying to steal second. Interestingly, a similar pattern took place in the sixth, this time with a lead-off base runner erased following a double play. At least the Dodgers managed to work up King’s pitch count, which was surprisingly in check for a starter who recorded nine strikeouts in his first five innings, even if they failed to do damage by stranding two base runners in the sixth.
Unfazed by seeing Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani thrown out on the basepaths earlier in the game—also somewhat pressed to create action with how well King was pitching—Kyle Tucker stole second with two outs in the seventh. Unfortunately, Max Muncy couldn’t drive him in with a dangerous fly ball caught in right-center. That at-bat wrapped up seven scoreless for King on an even 100 pitches. It should be noted that Tucker only had that opportunity due to a Freddie Freeman walk on a 3-2 overturned strike call, winning his challenge by the thinnest of margins. Tucker replaced Freeman on the basepaths following a forceout.
With both starters completing seven magnificent innings, it was up to the Dodgers to make something happen late to avoid a frustrating 1-0 defeat, having last been shut out nearly a month ago. For a game with dominant pitching, though, the Dodgers sure did their part in wasting opportunities. Once again in the eighth, they put a couple of players on base, this time in front of Betts with two outs, and the shortstop couldn’t drive them in, instead grounding out.
Even against the imposing figure of Mason Miller as the closer, it’d be in line with this game for the Dodgers to threaten and not score, and that’s exactly what they did. Miller walked the first two hitters with spotty command, to say the least, but settled in after that, retiring the following three in order.
This represented the first 1-0 loss for the Dodgers at San Diego since 2008, and while Andujar’s home run will take a lot of the attention, Rodolfo Durán’s work behind the plate shouldn’t go overlooked. The Padres catcher threw out two of three base runners and won all three of his challenges.
Game particulars
- Home run— Miguel Andujar (4)
- WP— Michael King (4-2): 7 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts
- LP— Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3-4): 7 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts
- SV – Mason Miller (15): 1 IP, 2 walks, 1 strikeout
Up next
A couple of days removed from facing the Angels, the Dodgers will meet a starting pitcher who spent the bulk of his career in Anaheim in Griffin Canning. He’ll have to contend with Emmet Sheehan’s effort on the other side of this duel that starts at 6:40 p.m. (PT).
