The Dodgers left their bats in Anaheim, as they were blanked by Michael King and the back end of the Padre bullpen for a 1-0 series-opening loss in San Diego to snap their five-game winning streak.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto‘s first inning issues struck again, as he needed 27 pitches to get through the first and gave up a homer to Miguel Andujar.
Miguel Andujar opens the scoring for San Diego ? pic.twitter.com/xb9bMeCFKK
— MLB (@MLB) May 19, 2026
It was the fifth homer he’s allowed this season with two strikes after allowing only five on two strikes all of last year. It was also his seventh first-inning run allowed in nine starts.
However, Yamamoto bounced back very nicely. He got through seven innings for third time in his last six starts and only allowed two more hits and two walks. After starting the season not really having the strikeout pitches going, Yama struck out eight for the third consecutive game.
His final line: 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K’s, 107 pitches. It was his first time allowing fewer than three runs in a game since his start against the Mets on April 14.
Unfortunately another trend showed up for the Dodgers. They continued to not give Yamamoto any run support, as King saw Yamamoto’s seven innings and raised him seven shutout.
King faced the minimum through five innings. Mookie Betts singled off the third base bag in the first, but was thrown out trying to steal while Freddie Freeman struck out. Shohei Ohtani led off the fourth with a walk, but was caught trying to steal for another 1-2-3 for King.
The Dodgers finally threatened in the sixth, which started with an Andy Pages single. That was erased on a Teoscar Hernandez double play as it looked like another 1-2-3, but Hyeseong Kim singled with two outs. Ohtani hit a swinging bunt that Padre catcher Rodolfo Duran threw wide of first. The ball trickled into right field and Fernando Tatis Jr. bobbled the ball with Kim rounding third, but Dino Ebel threw up a late stop sign and Kim stayed at third. Betts popped out to end that threat.
King was running on fumes in the seventh, which started with Freeman working a walk after a successful full count challenge. Kyle Tucker grounded into a force out and then stole second to get in scoring position, but King got Will Smith to pop out and Max Muncy to line out to center to get through seven.
King’s final line: 7 innings, 4 hits, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 Ks, 100 pitches. The broadcast said King was the fourth starter to throw seven shutout against the Dodgers in 2026. In all of 2025, four starters did that against the Dodgers.
The Dodgers threatened again in the eighth off Jason Adam. Pages grounded out to start the inning and Teo did the same right after, but did so in a 10-pitch AB. Kim then drew an 8-pitch walk and Ohtani singled under Gavin Sheets‘ glove to put runners on the corners. Betts hit a hard grounder to short, but Xander Bogaerts scooped it and got the force out.
Kyle Hurt was the lone reliever used by the Dodgers in this game. He gave up a one-out single to Tatis, but Smith gunned him trying to steal to end the inning.
Mason Miller came in in the ninth and that didn’t exactly go as expected. The dominant closer started the inning by throwing eight balls in his first nine pitches to put two Dodgers on. He fell behind 2-0 on Smith, but got back in the zone and got a fly ball for the first out. Muncy struck out for the third time today, and Pages grounded to third to end the game. You know it was a good game when there’s zero highlight videos to post.
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The loss moves the Dodgers to 29-19, half a game back of the 29-18 Padres. Emmet Sheehan gets the ball for the Dodgers tomorrow, with former Angel Griffin Canning going for the Padres. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM PT.