France's Three-Run Blast Flips the Script on the Dodgers
Ty France hit a 372-foot three-run homer in the second inning that swung San Diego's win probability from 44% to 72%, and the Padres never looked back. Final score: San Diego 7, Los Angeles 1.
Mookie Betts gave the Dodgers an early lead, sending a 360-foot shot to left in the second inning to make it 1-0. It looked, briefly, like Los Angeles might control the afternoon. Then Ty France stepped in and ended that conversation. His 372-foot three-run homer to left — scoring Machado and Sheets — flipped the game on its head in the same inning, pushing San Diego to a 3-1 lead and swinging the home win probability from 44% to 72% in a single swing. That was the ballgame's defining moment, and everything after it was damage control for the Dodgers.
Roki Sasaki made sure the damage was real. He lasted just 4.0 innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 3 hits and 5 walks — the walk total looks like the core problem, as the Padres didn't need to do much to capitalize on free baserunners. Walker Buehler, pitching for San Diego, was a different story: 5.1 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts. He didn't dominate, but he was steady enough to hand a lead to his bullpen. Jason Adam closed it out with a clean 1.0 inning — no hits, no walks, one strikeout.
The Padres put the game away with a four-run eighth inning that was methodical and merciless. Sung-Mun Song singled to center to score two runs, pushing the lead to 5-1, though France was thrown out at third trying to extend the rally. Rodolfo Durán followed with a double to left, scoring Song for a 6-1 cushion. Fernando Tatis Jr. — who went 2-for-5 on the night — capped the inning with a single to center that scored Durán and made it 7-1. The Dodgers, who appear to be the class of the sport at the midway point of the 2026 season, got a flat performance at the worst possible time. Freddie Freeman went 2-for-3 and Betts had his homer, but the lineup as a whole couldn't generate anything after the first inning. San Diego's pitching staff held Los Angeles to one run on what looks like a statement win at the halfway mark.