The San Diego Padres play against the Los Angeles Dodgers in an MLB game tonight. Fans can watch this game for free online.

Jose Iglesias hit a two-run homer in the second inning, Jackson Merrill connected in the eighth for insurance, and the San Diego Padres beat the struggling San Francisco Giants 5-1.

Dodgers and Padres kick off a high-stakes 3-game series with just one game separating them in the NL-West standings.

Mired in a three-game losing skid and trailing by a trio of runs, the Giants just needed one hit, one player ,to create a spark against the Padres. Instead, as they have often done during a miserable post-All Star break stretch, the bats came up empty when it counted. Patrick Bailey and Heliot Ramos each popped up to end the threat.

The teams’ contrasting fortunes have produced this reality: The Padres have become the better baseball franchise. Barring drastic reversals, San Diego will cruise into its fourth postseason in six years, while the Giants will miss the postseason for the eighth time in nine years.

San Francisco Giants outfielder Heliot Ramos broke his bat in frustration against the Padres, and he has now spoken about the incident.

SAN FRANCISCO — As the season started to collapse on the last homestand, the Giants at least could lean on one fact. They had seven games left against a San Diego Padres team they were hoping to chase down.

The Padres led almost continuously from the start on Tuesday after a wind single helped them extend the first inning and score a run, and they kept making Giants starter Robbie Ray throw extra pitches after that. Ray ended up lasting longer than Padres starter Nestor Cortes.