The Dodgers are coming into this game playing very well in their recent games as they have the lead in the NL West now and they have won 5 of their last 6 games. Their pitching has actually been very good in those games as they have not allowed more than 3 runs in 4 of their last 6 games and their offense has also been very potent as they have scored at least 7 runs in 5 of their last 6 games as well. They are going up against a Padres team that was also starting to play much better recently but now they have lost 2 of their last 3 games and they have a Dodgers team looking to beat up on them as they protect their division lead while also trying to hurt the Padres playoff chances. Tony Gonsolin is starting for the Dodgers here and he is 6-4 with a 4.11 ERA this season. He was awful in the month of July as he allowed at least 4 earned runs in 4 of his 5 starts but he is coming off of a much better start in August in his last one as he only allowed 1 earned run in 5 innings pitched. He has also pitched very well against the Padres over the last 2 seasons and even has a great record at Petco Park throughout his career as he has not allowed many runs to the Padres at all. He is going to shut down this Padres offense that has started to go cold in this series and he also has one of the best lineups in the league to back him up with some run support here. Seth Lugo is starting for the Padres here and he is 4-5 with a 3.54 ERA this season. He has been pitching well this season but he has also been consistently allowing runs in his recent starts. He has allowed at least 2 earned runs in each of his last 4 starts and even though that is not a lot of runs to give up, he is going to put the Dodgers on base in this game and they will score some runs like they have been doing on the Padres all weekend. Lugo also does not have much experience pitching against the Dodgers as a starter so an extended performance against them here will surely see him allow some runs. The Dodgers are going to be motivated to win this series now that they have control of the division again and they will win this game.