Shohei Ohtani faces a Padres team that can’t stop allowing runs

Continued success raises the bar in a way that leads you to acknowledge Shohei Ohtani is in the middle of his most difficult run of form on the mound this season, when he has still averaged the equivalent of a quality start across his latest three outings—allowing a combined six earned runs in 18.2 innings of work. Always thinking about the big picture with their most prized asset, the Dodgers—currently in the middle of a run with 13 straight games without an off day—decided to push back Ohtani a couple of days, giving him more time to recover in between starts.

In the short term, that decision has already seen the negative impact of a blowout loss in a bullpen game preventing a sweep of the A’s in West Sacramento. Now, we’ll see how Ohtani does, particularly how he does with Dalton Rushing behind the plate and not the currently injured Will Smith, a change that has caused some disruption, to say the least. Chuckie Robinson has started two of the last five games behind the plate, and given the recent problems, it would not be a shock had the Dodgers chosen to give Robinson an opportunity with Ohtani starting. Instead, they opted to keep their young lefty bat in the lineup while trying to work through some of these defensive issues.

For the Padres and Michael King, it’s time to try and stop the bleeding on a team that has been hemorrhaging runs as of late. Across their last two games alone, the Padres have allowed an absurd 35 runs, a dozen to the Dodgers on Thursday after 23 to the Cubs. Just to put it into context, even though they have allowed seven runs in each of their previous two games, you’d have to accumulate the Dodgers’ last eight appearances to reach a figure that San Diego has let across in just 18 innings of baseball.

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Padres
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium

• Start time: 7:10 p.m. PT

• TV: SportsNet LA

• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)