LOS ANGELES (Interstat) — Manny Machado homered in a four-run second inning that staked the San Diego Padres to a six-run lead Thursday night, but the Los Angeles Dodgers stormed back with a four-run fourth inning and went on to a 12-7 victory at Dodger Stadium in front of 54,081 fans in 3 hours 8 minutes.

The Padres, who had lost three straight, took advantage of an aggressive start against Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the game with a double and Machado drove him home with a home run to center field for a 2-0 lead. In the second inning, Jackson Merrill led off with a solo homer to left center, Xander Bogaerts doubled, and after two groundouts, Jake Cronenworth launched a three-run homer to right center that pushed the lead to 6-0. San Diego added a double from Gavin Sheets but stranded two runners.

The Dodgers responded in the bottom of the second against Padres starter Randy Vásquez. Kyle Tucker singled and Dalton Rushing followed with a two-run homer to center, cutting the deficit to 6-2. Two batters later, Shohei Ohtani walked but Andy Pages flied out.

Los Angeles continued its climb in the third. Mookie Betts singled, stole second? Actually no steal recorded, but Max Muncy doubled to center to score Betts, and Tucker singled to left to bring home Muncy, making the score 6-4. Teoscar Hernández grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The Padres failed to add on in the top of the fourth, and the Dodgers erupted in the bottom half. Rushing singled, Tommy Edman singled, and Andy Pages doubled to left to drive in both runners, tying the game at 6-6. After Freddie Freeman struck out, Betts doubled to center to score Pages and give the Dodgers a 7-6 lead. Muncy singled to center to score Betts, and Tucker singled to put runners at first and second. Hernández struck out to end the inning, but the Dodgers led 8-6.

San Diego could not answer in the fifth, going down in order. The Dodgers added two more in the fifth against reliever Wandy Peralta. Rushing doubled and Edman doubled to right to score him. Ohtani popped out, and after a walk to Pages and a walk to Freeman, Betts flied out and Muncy struck out, but the Dodgers led 10-6.

The Padres had a chance in the sixth when Samad Taylor singled with one out, but Tatis grounded into a double play to end the inning. Los Angeles extended its lead in the sixth. Tucker doubled, advanced to third on a fly out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Rushing, making it 11-6.

Both teams went quietly through the seventh and eighth innings. In the eighth, the Dodgers added an insurance run. Tucker walked, Hernández walked, and Rushing singled to right to score Tucker for a 12-6 lead.

In the ninth, the Padres mounted a mild rally. Samad Taylor walked, Tatis struck out, Cronenworth flied out, and Machado walked. Miguel Andujar singled to center to score Taylor, cutting the deficit to 12-7. Ty France grounded out to end the game.

Wandy Peralta took the loss, allowing four earned runs on six hits in one inning of relief. He fell to 1-1 on the season. Dodgers reliever Will Klein pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn the win, improving to 3-2. San Diego starter Randy Vásquez allowed four runs on seven hits in three innings with one strikeout.

San Diego fell to 43-43 on the season, while the Dodgers improved to 57-31.

The game was the first of a four-game series, with the Padres having lost four of their previous six meetings with the Dodgers this season. The Padres entered the series having been outscored 42-12 in their previous three games against the Cubs and Dodgers.

Key performances included Machado’s two-run homer and a solo shot from Merrill. Cronenworth finished with three RBIs on his second-inning homer. For the Dodgers, Rushing had three hits including a homer and a double, driving in four runs. Tucker collected four hits and scored three times. Betts had two doubles and two RBIs. The Dodgers collected 17 hits total, while the Padres managed 10. Los Angeles grounded into two double plays.

The Padres scored two runs in the first, four in the second and one in the ninth. The Dodgers scored two in the second, two in the third, four in the fourth, two in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the eighth.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Los Angeles Dodgers 7, San Diego Padres 5. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Dodgers a 66.50 percent probability to win. The Dodgers were installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total score of 19 went under the over/under line of 8.5.