The San Diego Padres hopped on Interstate 5 late Thursday night and headed south toward home, happy to escape Los Angeles with a 5-3 win over the Dodgers that averted a series sweep.

Whether they’ll have their leadoff hitter and star right fielder in the lineup, or their manager in the dugout, Friday night against the visiting Kansas City Royals is anyone’s guess.

Fernando Tatis Jr. left the series finale against the Dodgers after being drilled in the hand in the ninth inning by a 93 mph fastball from Los Angeles rookie Jack Little, the third time he was hit in the teams’ seven meetings over the past 11 days.

That was enough for manager Mike Shildt, who briskly walked on the field and yelled toward Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. The skippers met near home plate, and Roberts appeared to bump Shildt. The players emptied the dugouts and bullpens in defense of their managers.

Both were ejected and a suspension is likely for Shildt, particularly after San Diego reliever Robert Suarez drilled Shohei Ohtani in the bottom of the ninth. Suarez was ejected because the teams had been warned by crew chief Marvin Hudson.

Shildt didn’t duck his actions afterward but said he’d had enough of the Dodgers hitting Tatis. He is keeping count, too.

“You can put it any way you want but he’s been hit five times [over two seasons] by this group,” Shildt said. “He’s played a lot of dodgeball. Enough is enough.”

X-rays after the game on Tatis were negative but there will be further testing on Friday. With center fielder Jackson Merrill on the 7-day concussion list until at least Sunday, the last thing the Padres need is another hole in a lineup struggling to produce runs.

But they do at least have their best starter going on the mound Friday night in Nick Pivetta (7-2, 3.40). He’s coming off an 8-2 win Sunday at Arizona, where he allowed just two hits and two runs over seven innings with one walk and nine strikeouts. Pivetta is 2-1 with a 5.93 earned run average in six career outings against Kansas City.

The Royals will counter with Michael Lorenzen (4-7, 4.91), who last pitched on Saturday night, losing 4-0 at home to the Athletics. Lorenzen permitted four hits and three runs over six innings with three walks and four strikeouts. He’s 1-3 with a 6.12 ERA in 15 games, three of them starts, against San Diego.

Kansas City is coming off a three-game road sweep of the Texas Rangers, wrapping it up Thursday with a 4-1 win that featured the first two homers of rookie Jac Caglianone’s career. Prior to the series, the Royals had dropped six straight and eight of nine.

Caglianone, the team’s first-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, sounded equal parts relieved and thrilled to belt his first MLB homers in what was his 14th career game.

“It’s something I tried not to think about,” he said, “but as the days kind of kept climbing, I was conscious of it more and more. I just got a nice little relief right there.”

The Royals own the fifth-best ERA in MLB at 3.36 but are under .500 (37-38) because they rank next-to-last in runs (253) and tied for last in homers (53). They’re also in the bottom five in on-base percentage (.301) and slugging (.371).

–Field Level Media