When Kyle Tucker made the move to Dodger Stadium this season, expectations were high. It’s not as though he failed to deliver, either, as he hit .297 with a .910 OPS in the three weeks after being dropped from the No. 2 spot in the lineup. But sustaining that success? That hasn’t happened. After enduring that slump, however, Tucker broke out against the Padres, adding four runs while going 3-for-5 with a home run against the Padres. But instead of celebrating, the right fielder remained highly critical of his own performance after the game.

“I don’t know, I mean, I didn’t love my swing tonight,” Tucker said when reporter Kirsten Watson inquired about his thoughts on the results. “I just liked the homer, I just kind of caught the ball at the right point of contact.”

The game was tied 1-1 at Petco Park until the fifth inning, but the Dodgers went absolutely bonkers in the sixth. A home run from Dalton Rushing, a 2-run homer from Tucker, and a 3-run homer from Mookie Betts added 9 runs for the visitors. When Tucker came to the plate, Tommy Edman was already on third base, and he was just trying to get the runner home. However, he faced 9 pitches from Padres pitcher Randy Vasquez before he could make contact. And it ended up a 398-ft homer!

“I was just trying to get the run in. I mean, he was around the zone for the most part, making some decent pitches,” Tucker added. “I wasn’t putting that great of swings on there.”

Kyle Tucker signed a massive 4-year, $240 million deal with the Dodgers this January. But it has been quite a dull season for him with the back-to-back World Series champions. His .238 batting average and .719 OPS are the worst since his rookie season with the Houston Astros. 

There was a lot of expectation from the 4x All-Star and 2022 World Series champion. But Tucker’s numbers saw even bigger slumps as he was hitting at .203 in June. In fact, on Friday, he was lifted for a pinch-hitter after going 0-for-3 with a strikeout versus the Padres. 

But entering Saturday with just a .700 OPS and going four straight games without a hit, the slugger knew how crucial the game at Petco Park was going to be. So, he added 2 more earned runs through a single in the 8th after his 7th home run of the season earlier that evening. The Dodgers finally won 15-3, leveling the series with the Padres in a dominant fashion. 

The Dodgers fire on all cylinders

The NL West leaders suffered a 7-1 loss the night before, but they bounced back emphatically by scoring 15 runs against their division rivals in the next game. They arrived in San Diego riding high after sweeping the series in Minnesota, but the loss in the opener served as something of a reality check.

As a result, the Dodgers went all out in the second game. 9 runs in the 6th inning, 4 more in the 8th, and finally another in the last inning were more than enough to send a message to the opponents. 

“So we were just kind of waiting for a point in the game to break things loose and get some runs up on the board. We had a big inning there. So it worked out really well for us,” Tucker summed up the entire strategy in the simplest way. 

While he remained critical of his own performance, he praised his teammates for the big win. The 29-year-old acknowledged how Miguel Rojas wrapped up the 9th in just 5 pitches.

“He’s the closer,” he added. 

Notably, Yoshinobu Yamamoto also pitched well, throwing five innings while allowing five hits and just two earned runs. With the win, the Dodgers remain comfortably atop the division, while the Padres sit in second place, 9.0 games back.