Hot Dodgers meet even hotter Gavin Sheets vs. Padres in NL West clash

The Monday night series opener between the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres could be billed as a hot team against a sizzling hitter.

The Dodgers enter with a half-game lead in the National League West over the Padres after a 10-1 rout of the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., on Sunday. The Dodgers swept the Angels in the Freeway Series to stretch their winning streak to five games.

The Dodgers plundered Angels pitching for 31 runs in the three-game series, on 29 hits, while drawing a whopping 18 walks. After losing four straight games -- two each against the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants -- the Dodgers have outscored their opponents 40-5.

Meanwhile, the Padres enter the series after their second three-game sweep this year of the Seattle Mariners. San Diego took the series finale 8-3 Sunday as Gavin Sheets continued perhaps the most torrid stretch of his career.

Sheets homered twice and doubled, knocking in four runs. On the team's just-completed six-game trip, he went 10-for-16 with four homers, eight RBIs and seven walks.

That raised Sheets' batting average to .262, with nine homers and 21 RBIs. And that average is much higher than San Diego's .224 team average, which is last in the majors, but the team is still 10 games over .500. It's because of last-minute heroics from players such as Sheets -- who has homered in the ninth inning three times this season to put his team ahead -- that the Padres are where they are in the standings.

"You just want the moment," he said of his dramatic homers. "I think you just tell your mind, you just continue to repeat it to yourself. You want it. And then you get the moment, and you're not afraid of it."

While Sheets will look to continue his tear, San Diego right-hander Michael King (3-2, 2.63 ERA) will aim to keep shutting down the opposition. He's coming off a no-decision in a 3-1 win at Milwaukee on Wednesday night, when he permitted one run on six hits in 5 2/3 innings while walking two and striking out five.

In five career games against the Dodgers, three of them starts, King is 2-0 with a 2.82 ERA.

He'll oppose right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3-3, 3.60 ERA), who hopes to bounce back from a 6-2 loss Tuesday night against San Francisco. Yamamoto struck out eight and walked none in 6 1/3 innings but gave up three homers among his six hits and was charged with five runs.

In his career against San Diego, Yamamoto is 1-2 in four starts with a 6.38 ERA, allowing four homers and 13 runs in 18 1/3 innings.

Since Yamamoto's loss to the Giants, Los Angeles has received brilliant starting pitching, including Roki Sasaki's seven-inning, eight-strikeout effort Sunday. And its relievers have 17 scoreless innings during the team's winning streak, with seven frames coming in a bullpen game Friday night.

Getting 10 runs on Sunday didn't hurt, either.

"To break out like that," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the rout, "is good for the confidence of the offense."

Shohei Ohtani was particularly hot against the Angels, his former team, knocking in five runs on Saturday night and adding three hits and two RBIs on Sunday. Kyle Tucker also delivered three hits Sunday and drove in three runs.

--Field Level Media