Buehler dominates Padres again in Dodgers' 9-0 victory

SAN DIEGO -- Walker Buehler had another dominating performance against the San Diego Padres, and catcher Russell Martin looked good on the mound, too.

Buehler struck out 11 and allowed only four hits in six innings, and Joc Pederson homered to lead the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers to a 9-0 victory Tuesday night.

It was such a laugher that Padres rookie infielder Ty France pitched the top of the ninth, allowing A.J. Pollock's solo homer, and then Martin mopped up for the Dodgers, allowing only a double to keep his ERA at 0.00 in four career appearances.

"He's pretty good. He's got some spin rate. You guys should check his numbers," Buehler joked.

"He's got a lot to beat you with," Pollock said. "He's not just throwing the ball up there. He's mixing in speeds, his tempo is different, he's got a quick pitch. I wouldn't want to face him. He's not your typical position player on the mound, for sure."

Buehler (11-3) was strong from the start, walking just two and allowing only three baserunners to reach scoring position. He improved to 4-0 with a 0.64 ERA in four career appearances against San Diego in two seasons. He and three relievers combined to no-hit the Padres on May 4, 2018, in Monterrey, Mexico.

"I don't know if there's much to it," Buehler said of his success against the Padres. "They always have a lot of right-handed hitters and being a righty, there's kind of similar things you want to see. We just want to keep it going and win division games."

Buehler recorded consecutive scoreless starts for the third time in his career.

Asked why Buehler is so good against his team, manager Andy Green said: "We need an answer for that."

Manuel Margot, who was beaned by Buehler in the second inning, made a leaping catch at the wall in center field in the sixth to rob Cody Bellinger of a two-run homer, which would have given him sole possession of the MLB lead with 43.

Margot was hit in the side of his helmet by a pitch by Buehler and lay on the ground for a few minutes before sitting up and then standing up and walking to first. He stole second on the next pitch.

"You never feel good about that," Buehler said. "Obviously there's no intent to hit a guy in the head. That's not the way I play. It's hard because you want to make sure the guy's OK, but at the same time you've got a game to pitch. He stole second base on the next pitch and he seemed to be doing fine. I asked him if he was all right when he got to second. It's just scary. You can't let it take you out of the game."

Padres manager Andy Green said Margot "was completely lucid from the get go. He was fine on the ground, just kind of gathering himself. We asked him to stay down there for a little bit to check him. He checked out with every test that was given to him. Felt fine. Felt soreness in the jaw. Fortunate that it seemed to come out like that. Kind of see that happening, kind of anticipate the worst. Go out there and he's talking from the very beginning. Very fortunate."

Pederson hit his career-high 27th homer in the third inning off rookie Cal Quantrill (6-5).

Matt Beaty and Enrique Hernandez hit RBI singles in the fourth before the Dodgers blew it open with five runs in the fifth, when they chased Quantrill and had seven straight batters reach with one out. Corey Seager and Will Smith each hit a bases-loaded, two-run single, and Hernandez added an RBI double.

Quantrill allowed eight runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, walked three and struck out one.

"Wasn't me today," he said. "Felt like this past month I made a lot of strides and today was a bad step back. Left the ball up, didn't have very good control of the off-speed. Just generally I didn't mix it up enough and they took advantage of that.

"Everything just felt a little bit out of sorts. I tried to battle but that's just not good enough. Got to find a way. Good starting pitchers find a way to get through bad days. You're not always going to throw a shutout, but you've got to give your team a chance to win, and that's just not good enough."

JUSTIN TURNER

The Dodgers' third baseman had a scheduled night off. Earlier Tuesday, he was suspended for one game by Major League Baseball and fined for making contact with umpire Rob Drake after striking out looking to end Monday night's game. Turner is appealing, meaning he can play until the process is complete.

ROSTER MOVE

The Dodgers activated C Martin from the bereavement list and optioned C Austin Barnes to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

UP NEXT

Dodgers: RHP Kenta Maeda (8-8, 4.13) is scheduled to start the series finale Wednesday night. He's 1-1 with a 4.70 ERA in four starts against the Padres, with 28 strikeouts against five walks and holding batters to a .183 average.

Padres: RHP Trey Wingenter (1-3, 4.60) is scheduled to make his first big-league start as San Diego has another bullpen day.

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