The Los Angeles Dodgers own a commanding 12-game lead in the National League West and are well-positioned to increase the advantage when they host the second-place San Diego Padres on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.
The Dodgers own the best record in the majors and just completed a 7-2 road trip despite Wednesday’s 7-1 loss to the Athletics.
“It never feels good to lose,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s still a great road trip for us.”
The Dodgers are a whopping 25 games above .500 at 56-31 and took two of three games from the Padres in San Diego last weekend.
But Roberts badly wants to extend the division lead.
“We try to take every series with the same importance, but winning this series is a goal,” he said of facing San Diego.
The Padres have lost five straight games, including 23-3 to the host Chicago Cubs on Wednesday. The 20-run losing margin is the worst in franchise history.
The 1969 expansion Padres twice lost 19-0 — once to the host Cubs and once to the visiting Dodgers. In 2005, the Padres were trounced 20-1 by the host Colorado Rockies.
The 23 runs allowed on Wednesday matched a franchise worst. That also came in Chicago when the Cubs steamrolled the Padres 23-6 in 1977.
San Diego also served up eight homers in the disastrous finale of a three-game series.
“It only counts as one (loss),” San Diego manager Craig Stammen said afterward. “We’ve got to remember that. … (Things are) going as poorly as they can right now, and we’ve got to find a way to dig deep, dig our way out of that hole. I think there’s some grit on this team, and we’ve got to dig deep for that.
“If we get negative, we turn on each other, we start pointing fingers — that’s when it’ll turn into disaster.”
A loss to the Dodgers on Thursday would drop the Padres to .500 for the first time since being 6-6 on April 8.
“I shouldn’t have to say it, but we need to turn the intensity up for this next series,” San Diego outfielder/first baseman Gavin Sheets said. “Obviously, we get off to slow starts, and the game starts to snowball a little bit. But we’ve got to keep that under control and as a defense not let that unravel and not let it affect the way we play.
“We need to get back on track against the Dodgers and right this road trip.”
Ailing Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (right wrist) sat out Wednesday’s game but is expected back Thursday. Freddie Freeman homered for the lone Los Angeles run.
The Dodgers had just five hits in the finale after totaling 18 runs and 31 hits while winning the first two games of the series.
Padres right-hander Randy Vasquez (6-6, 4.44 ERA), who will start on Thursday, lost to the Dodgers last Saturday when he gave up seven runs (four earned) and eight hits over 3 1/3 innings. He served up homers to Kyle Tucker and Dalton Rushing during the 15-3 loss.
Vazquez, 27, also lost to the Dodgers on May 20 when he gave up three runs and six hits — including a homer to Shohei Ohtani — over 4 1/3 innings. Overall, he’s 0-3 with a 5.57 ERA in five appearances (three starts) against Los Angeles and has given up two homers to Andy Pages (4-for-10 vs. him) while being scorched by Freeman (5-for-9, three doubles).
The Dodgers will counter on Thursday with right-hander Roki Sasaki (3-5, 4.88 ERA), who is 0-2 with an 8.36 ERA over his last three turns.
Sasaki, 24, lost to the Padres 7-1 last Friday when he allowed three runs and three hits over four-plus innings. That’s his lone outing against San Diego.
–Field Level Media
