Only Sonny Gray had held the Los Angeles Dodgers to one hit across at least six innings all season, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. That is, until Padres’ pitchers Yu Darvish and Nestor Cortes did it on back-to-back nights.

The Padres' Nestor Cortes, who gave up the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history last October, faced his Dodgers demons and tossed six brilliant innings in a 5-1 win.

The Dodgers probably didn't see this coming from the Padres' pitcher, but it happened in such a way that they had no chance to bounce back.

Alex Freeland was the entire Dodgers offense for a second straight day with a solo home run in Saturday’s 5-1 loss. The Dodgers had only five hits on Friday and Saturday combined, their first time getting held to that low of a two-game hit total in four years.

Nestor Cortes took a perfect game into the sixth inning and combined with three relievers on a two-hitter as the San Diego Padres reclaimed the NL West lead with a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night.

Thanks to Thursday’s escape from Denver to salvage a series split at Coors Field, the Dodgers still haven’t lost a series to a National League West team this season in 10 tries. They’ll put that mark to the test this weekend against the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego.

Pregame analysis and predictions of the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Diego Padres MLB game to be played on August 24, 2025 on ESPN.

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