YouTube The San Diego Padres walked into Dodger Stadium, on Friday, with a one-game lead in the NL West over the Los Angeles Dodgers. They left, on Sunday, two games behind the Dodgers after being swept over the weekend.

A clutch home run from Mookie Betts helped the Los Angeles Dodgers cap off a dominant weekend against the San Diego Padres.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/padres as Padres Pitcher Doesn't Like Facing the Dodgers for One Major Reason. San Diego Padres relief pitcher Yuki Matsui revealed he doesn't like facing the Los Angeles Dodgers due to the heightened media coverage around him when he faces off against two-way player Shohei Ohtani.

With their three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers proved they are deeper and more focused than their budding NL West rivals.

LOS ANGELES — It was touted as the biggest series of the month. It was billed as a potential passing of the torch, with the San Diego Padres threatening to win the National League West for the first time in 19 years. Instead, Sunday’s finale ended in a three-game sweep — and a relatively convincing one, at that.

Mookie Betts hits a tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth inning, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 5-4 on Sunday.

The Dodgers, leaning on contributions from those who had been struggling, including the bullpen, completed a three-game sweep of the rival Padres on Sunday to regain control of the NL West.

On Friday morning, the Padres were in first place, having won 14 of their last 17 games, with an opportunity to put a little distance between themselves and the Goliath just up I-5. Instead, the Dodgers reminded us all who they are, sweeping the Padres and re-taking the NL West lead by two games.

Then Betts rescued the Dodgers with the 394-foot shot to left-center off Robert Suarez. It was the shortstop’s 13th homer of the season and just his fifth since June. Betts had 25 in 2022 and 39 in 2023.

The Padres' de facto captain left the job of explaining a three-game series sweep in Los Angeles to his younger, less experienced teammates on Sunday.