Padres edge Dodgers 1‑0 behind King’s gem

SAN DIEGO (Interstat) — Miguel Andujar homered in the first inning, Michael King struck out nine over seven sharp innings and the San Diego Padres defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 on Monday night, snapping the Dodgers’ five-game winning streak.

King allowed four hits and walked none, improving to 4-2. He retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced, matching zeros with Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who allowed one run on four hits over six innings with six strikeouts and two walks. Yamamoto fell to 3-4.

Mason Miller earned his major league-leading 15th save, but not before a rocky ninth inning. The Padres closer walked the first two batters he faced on nine pitches, bringing the potential tying and go-ahead runs to the bases. Miller recovered by striking out Max Muncy looking and inducing a force out grounder to third from Andy Pages to end the game.

The game’s only run came in the bottom of the first. Fernando Tatis Jr. lined out to start the inning, but Andujar followed by driving a 1-2 pitch from Yamamoto over the wall in left-center for his fourth home run of the season. It was the only extra-base hit of the night for either side.

The Dodgers threatened sporadically but could not solve King or the Padres bullpen. Los Angeles put two runners on in the sixth inning. Andy Pages led off with a single, but Teoscar Hernandez grounded into a double play. Hyeseong Kim then singled and Shohei Ohtani reached on a bunt single, with Kim advancing to third on a throwing error by catcher Rodolfo Durán. Mookie Betts ended the inning by popping out to second baseman Tatis.

In the eighth, again facing King, Ohtani singled with two outs and Kim on third after a walk. Betts grounded into a force out at second to end the inning. King gave way to Jason Adam, who threw a scoreless eighth, allowing one hit.

The Dodgers’ first-inning rally was snuffed out by a caught stealing. Betts singled with one out, but on a strikeout of Freddie Freeman, Betts was caught trying to steal second on a throw from Durán to shortstop Xander Bogaerts.

San Diego collected four hits, two by Andujar. Xander Bogaerts singled in the seventh and Tatis added a single in the eighth. The Padres got a leadoff walk from Manny Machado in the first but stranded him. Los Angeles finished with five hits, two by Ohtani. Betts, Pages and Kim also singled.

The game featured strong defensive plays, including a diving stop by Tatis at second that turned a potential hit into a force out in the eighth. The Padres also turned a double play in the sixth when Hernamdez grounded into a 4-6-3 twin killing.

Attendance was 40,882 at PETCO Park. The game lasted 2 hours, 18 minutes.

The Dodgers fell to 29-19, while the Padres improved to 29-18. It was the opener of a nine-game homestand for San Diego, which swept Seattle over the weekend. The loss ended the Dodgers’ five-game winning streak that included a three-game sweep of the Angels and two wins over San Francisco.

The Interstat game simulator had projected a 6-5 Padres victory, while Interstat’s ELO system gave the Dodgers a 55.90 percent probability to win. Los Angeles had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total of 1 run went over the over-under line of 7.5.