Teoscar's Grand Slam Turns a Fireworks Night Into a Dodgers Comeback

Teoscar Hernandez hit a 419-foot grand slam to center in the seventh inning, erasing a three-run deficit and swinging the Dodgers' win probability from 39% to 85% in a single swing. Los Angeles walked off with a 4-3 win over San Diego on July Fourth, with one at-bat doing all the damage.

San Diego built a case through six innings that looked airtight. Gavin Sheets singled to right in the first, scoring Tatis Jr. and putting the Padres on the board first. Jackson Merrill went deep to center in the fourth — 423 feet — to make it 2-0. Then in the sixth, Xander Bogaerts doubled to right, scoring Merrill again, and suddenly San Diego had a 3-0 lead heading into the seventh. Michael King had done his part: 6.0 innings, just 3 hits, 1 earned run, 5 strikeouts. The Padres looked in control.

Then the seventh happened. With Betts, Muncy, and Tucker all on base, Teoscar Hernandez turned on a pitch and sent it 419 feet to center — a grand slam that scored all three runners and flipped the scoreboard to 4-3 Dodgers. That one swing accounts for all four of Los Angeles's runs and all four of Hernandez's RBI on the night. The win probability swing was as violent as the contact: 39% to 85%, a 46-point lurch in the span of one at-bat. That's the story of the night, full stop.

Shohei Ohtani's line deserves a closer look, and it appears to tell a complicated story. He went 6.0 innings, struck out 9, but allowed 7 hits and all 3 of San Diego's earned runs — a performance that looks like a quality start on paper but left his team in a hole it nearly couldn't escape. The bullpen closed it out cleanly: Tanner Scott was untouchable with 3 strikeouts across a perfect inning, and Kyle Hurt allowed just 1 hit over his frame. For San Diego, the loss stings harder given the broader context — the Padres are already dealing with Randy Vásquez landing on the 15-day IL with a bruised right ankle, per ESPN, adding rotation depth concerns to what is now a tough road loss. Merrill finished 2-for-4 with a homer and 2 runs scored and gave San Diego every reason to win this game. They just ran into one very bad seventh inning.