Dodgers swept in SD: 'We just got outplayed'

SAN DIEGO -- Back in Spring Training, Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said this season’s matchups with the Padres were going to be “like 19 World Series games.” He’s been right. Most games so far have been tightly contested and decided by a few key plays.

But through 10 meetings between the two teams, the Padres have made more plays than the Dodgers. That was on display again Wednesday night, as the Dodgers were swept by the Padres in a three-game set with a 5-3 loss at Petco Park. Los Angeles has lost seven of its past eight against San Diego and is 3-7 against it this season.

• Box score

It was the first time the Dodgers were swept at Petco Park since Sept. 6-8, 2010.

“They absolutely kicked our ass from an intensity standpoint,” said Los Angeles starter Trevor Bauer, who allowed three runs and struck out 10 over six-plus innings. “They came to play, and we didn’t. That’s what happens in baseball. You try to attack the other team and win, and when you don’t have that mindset, you get rolled. And we got rolled.”

Outside of that intensity, the Padres also made all the plays they needed to make. Jake Cronenworth delivered continuous big hits, including his third homer of the series in the first inning off Bauer. Manny Machado showed his stardom on both sides of the ball, especially defensively, making plays at both third base and in right field in San Diego's super-shift.

The Dodgers made some key plays of their own. They tied the game at 2 with a pair of runs in the fourth and Turner knotted the game at 3 with a clutch two-out RBI single in the eighth. But Los Angeles made mistakes too many times in crucial situations, and San Diego made it pay.

“I think we just got outplayed,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think we came in prepared to win a series, but when you look back, they got hits when they needed to, they made pitches when they needed to and made plays defensively.”

The Dodgers, on the other hand, didn’t make plays defensively in the eighth after Matt Beaty had replaced Zach McKinstry in right field. McKinstry was already filling in for Mookie Betts, who is dealing with a stomach flu and was sent back to Los Angeles after receiving an IV. Beaty isn’t quite the defender Betts is, and that cost the Dodgers.

Beaty took an odd route to a ball off the bat of Cronenworth, and it went off Beaty's glove for a leadoff double in the eighth. The next play, Turner hesitated just long enough on a chopper to third base, allowing Machado to reach on an infield single.

Left-hander Victor González walked Trent Grisham with the bases loaded to put the Padres ahead, 4-3. And as the Dodgers were trying to rally in the ninth, Will Smith made a baserunning blunder, getting doubled off at second on an Albert Pujols liner to Machado to end the game.

“Obviously, we didn’t get very good results,” Turner said. “We didn’t play the cleanest of baseball, and we’re all looking forward to getting the opportunity to play them again.”

The Dodgers came to San Diego looking to leapfrog the Giants atop the National League West. Instead, they head back to Los Angeles four games out of first place and only a half-game ahead of the third-place Padres.

The Dodgers still have nine more regular-season games to come against the Padres. They're going to have to start making them count.

“Certainly not where we expected to be, as far as standings-wise,” Roberts said. “But I think the win-loss, we’re doing OK up to this point. We obviously have to get better at a lot of facets of the game. But it isn’t a 60-game season this year. It’s 162, and we just have to continue to get better. I know that at the end of the season, I expect us to be atop of the division.”