Cronenworth miscue and Teoscar grand slam keep Padres stuck in extended skid

The San Diego Padres’ losing streak kept rolling in Los Angeles as a late defensive mistake and one decisive swing buried an early lead. After Michael King opened with six dominant innings, he was lifted in the seventh after the first two batters reached base. From there, San Diego brought in high-leverage left-hander Adrian Morejon, who induced a potential momentum-shifting double-play ground ball off Kyle Tucker.

The chance did not become a turnaround. Jake Cronenworth was credited with a dropped ball on the play, leaving the bases loaded instead of ending the inning. With runners still in scoring position, Teoscar Hernández lifted a fly ball to left center that turned into a grand slam, erasing what had been a 3-0 Padres advantage and flipping the game toward the Dodgers. Over the final two innings, the Padres put zero men on base in what amounted to a late-season-sense-of-urgency failure to mount another push.

What made the sequence sting for San Diego was the contrast between how the game started and how it finished. King’s performance gave the Padres a platform, and even after he exited, the inning could have gone differently with a clean execution. Instead, a combination of pressure, a high-leverage relief appearance, and one error produced the kind of rally that can define a series when a team is already searching for answers.

The loss is part of a broader skid that has tightened the margin for San Diego in the National League. Multiple game previews and recaps connected the most recent defeat to a seven-game slide, with the Padres sitting below.500 for the first time since early April. The broader record described in the coverage also has them in a deep hole since mid-May, including a Major League worst mark since May 18 as reported during the coverage window.

The Dodgers’ pitching context matters because it helps explain why the back half of the game became so difficult to escape. The coverage leading into the matchup described Yoshinobu Yamamoto as a dominant presence, citing a 2.67 ERA for the season and 90 strikeouts, along with a recent stretch in which he allowed only six runs over his previous three starts. In the prior meeting referenced, Yamamoto also limited San Diego to two runs over six innings, setting the tone for why the Padres could not afford wasted innings.

For Padres fans, the immediate question is how much of this slump is fixable through small adjustments and how much is structural. When an error turns a potential inning-ending play into a grand slam, it is a reminder that execution under pressure is often what separates contending clubs from those who are going backward. San Diego’s inability to put runners on base over the final two innings underscores the challenge it has had finishing rallies and sustaining pressure after key moments.

The next watch item is whether the Padres can stop the pattern before it hardens into an insurmountable playoff gap. With the team described as four games out of the final NL Wild Card spot in the coverage and with multiple teams between it and contention, every additional loss reduces the room for error. San Diego’s follow-up to this game, including how quickly it can rebound defensively and how it manages late-inning leverage, will be central as the series picture shifts.