Fernando Tatis Jr. hits 2 homers as Padres crush Dodgers to even series

LOS ANGELES -- Fernando Tatis Jr. hit two home runs as the visiting San Diego Padres went deep six times and evened the National League Division Series with a 10-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 on Sunday.

Tatis hit home runs in the first and ninth innings, while former Dodger David Peralta hit one in the second. Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts hit back-to-back blasts in the eighth, while Kyle Higashioka also hit one in the ninth.

Right-hander Yu Darvish (1-0) gave up one run on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts over seven innings as the Padres head home for Game 3 on Tuesday.

Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts for the Dodgers, who had five hits and lost for the seventh time in eight playoff games over the past three seasons, including an NLDS defeat to the Padres in 2022. The top three spots in the Dodgers' order combined to go 0-for-12.

Dodgers right-hander Jack Flaherty (0-1) gave up four runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked one.

Tatis gave San Diego a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a home run to left field. The Padres made it 3-0 in the second on Peralta's first career playoff home run.

Padres left-fielder Jurickson Profar robbed Mookie Betts of a home run in the first inning, reaching into the crowd in the left field corner to make the catch. The Dodgers loaded the bases in the second inning with nobody out, but scored just once on a sacrifice fly from Gavin Lux.

The San Diego defense was at it again in the fourth. Tatis made a leaping catch while on the run in right-center on a drive from Freddie Freeman and Luis Arraez corralled Max Muncy's hard-hit one-hopper.

Freeman departed after five innings with right ankle discomfort.

After tempers flared on both sides in the sixth inning when Flaherty hit Tatis with a pitch, the Padres took a 4-1 lead on an RBI single from Merrill.

Multiple baseballs were thrown on the field before the bottom of the seventh, causing a delay and stoking the ire of Profar. Merrill and Bogaerts then sealed the win, hitting consecutive homers in the eighth for a 7-1 lead.

Higashioka hit his third homer of the postseason in the ninth and Tatis hit his second of the game two batters later.

Muncy hit a home run for the Dodgers in the ninth.

--By Doug Padilla, Field Level Media