LOS ANGELES — Fernando Tatis Jr. is making the most of his return to the postseason.

Through three playoff games, the 25-year-old right fielder leads the team with six hits. That includes an 118.9 mph double — the hardest hit of his career — to push his batting line to .600/.692/1.000 in his first postseason action since the 2020 NLDS against the Dodgers.

Tatis has also walked three times without a strikeout after managing just two walks against 25 strikeouts in 22 games after returning from the stress reaction in his right femur.

Tatis also leads the team with four postseason runs. He walked in the first inning and scored on Manny Machado’s first home run of the postseason. Tatis’ third-inning double helped set up Xander Bogaerts’ two-run double.

Tatis popped out in the third inning, lined out to center in the seventh and singled to left in the ninth, an inning that ended with Machado striking out with runners on first and second to end the game.

Tatis will hit second on Sunday as the Padres look to even the series.

First pitch is at 5:03 p.m. on FS1.

Time to bounce back. pic.twitter.com/hTdJy3obz5

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) October 6, 2024

The only wrinkle in the lineup is getting David Peralta’s bat into the lineup at DH at the expense of Donovan Solano, who is on the bench as Luis Arraez gets the start at first base.

Neither Peralta nor Solano have had much success against Sunday starter Jack Flaherty.

Peralta is 1-for-6  with two RBIs, a walk and three strikeouts.

Solano is 0-for-6 with a strikeout and a walk against Flaherty, who has actually been better against lefties (.605 OPS) than he has been against righties this year (.730).

Peralta will hit eighth between second baseman Jake Cronenworth and catcher Kyle Higashioka.

With Xander Bogaerts driving in two runs on two hits, Cronenworth remains the only Padre without a hit so far in the playoffs as he’s 0-for-9 with a walk and four strikeouts.

The Dodgers’ comeback win on Saturday snapped their six-game losing streak in the postseason. They lost Game 2 of the 2022 NLDS as the Padres went on to win in four games and were swept out of last year’s NLDS by the Diamondbacks.

At least one Padre wasn’t buying all the drama surrounding Freddie Freeman’s availability on Saturday.

“The guy’s a gamer man,” Machado said. “He’s done it his entire career. No doubt in my mind … that he was going to be in there. I don’t think anything was going to hold him back. He’s been doing it for a long time. You saw that tonight.”

Freeman went 2-for-5 and even swiped a base despite the Dodgers holding back Saturday’s lineup to see if his right ankle sprain would be ready to go.

There’s no question on Sunday: Freeman is at first base and batting third as the Dodgers run back Saturday’s lineup.

“Much easier today,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of penciling Freeman into Sunday’s lineup. “I think that he is in the same spot, but I do feel that there’s a little more comfort in Freddie, for Freddie, and knowing kind of where the floor is at for him. Whereas, yesterday, you’re just trying to figure out what this means and how it feels. But I think feeling how he felt, how he feels today, he feels that he can get through today and manage it.

“So we certainly feel much more confident today.”

Tonight’s NLDS Game 2 #Dodgers lineup vs. Padres: pic.twitter.com/7OMyH2tVwE

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 6, 2024

Sunday’s pitching matchup

Padres RHP Yu Darvish (7-3, 3.31 ERA)

He has a 3.55 ERA in five starts since returning from the restricted/injured lists, allowing hitters a .719 OPS and topping out at 87 pitches and 6⅓ innings. The Padres have won all five of those games. Darvish has a 1.72 ERA in three starts this year against the Dodgers (15⅔ IP) and allowed three runs in five innings in the 2022 NLDS in LA.

Here is how Darvish has fared against current Dodgers:

Dodgers RHP Jack Flaherty (13-7, 3.17 ERA)

Flaherty went 6-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 10 starts after the trade from Detroit (2.95 ERA), which includes allowing three runs in five innings to the Padres in his last start of the season. Flaherty allowed a run in six innings in a Game 3 loss in the 2020 NL wild-card series while in the Cardinals’ rotation.

Here is how Flaherty has fared against current Padres: