Padres hand Dodgers their sixth straight loss

LOS ANGELES -- Melvin Upton Jr. doubled home two runs and Padres right-hander Colin Rea outpitched fellow rookie starter Ross Stripling on Saturday night in a 5-2 win over the Dodgers, who have a six-game losing streak and a 12-13 record but still are in first place in the National League West.
"I think the narrative [is we're] not hitting and sluggish or whatever, but I think if you had asked any one of us before the season started if we'd be happy in first place with record notwithstanding, I think we'd all sign up for that," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. "We used to talk about our goal to win the division. That's our goal, and we still have an opportunity to do that. It's going to turn. I'm not going to put too much weight into six days of not hitting."
The Padres scored twice in the third on consecutive doubles by Jon Jay, Wil Myers and Matt Kemp. The Dodgers tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Rea walked Stripling leading off and Chase Utley homered.

• Roberts preaches patience amid Dodgers' struggles
"He was really good after he gave up the home run," Padres skipper Andy Green said of Rea. "I thought after that, he kind of flushed it. There was a little tentativeness in him in that inning, where he wasn't attacking like he can. He finished very aggressively though. His last two frames were as crisp as he's been the whole time."
After striking out the first two batters in the fifth inning, Stripling walked Myers and Kemp, then Upton doubled them home and Upton scored on Alexei Ramirez's RBI single. Rea, who went six innings, is 2-1, while Stripling, who was charged with five runs in 4 2/3 innings, is 0-2.
"As far as them reacting to me, I guess you can see it. Around the fourth or fifth inning, they get after me," said Stripling, who hasn't allowed a run in the first two innings in any of his five starts. "But the third time through the lineup, they start adjusting, and I better adjust, too, or else it's going to be rough like this."
The Padres' victory secured their first series win at Dodger Stadium since they swept the Dodgers there in April 2013.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Triple-double: The Padres jumped out to a 2-0 lead with three doubles on three pitches in the third inning. Jay hit a two-bagger down the line in left, before Myers and Kemp followed with missiles to almost the same spot in left-center field. The Padres hadn't hit three straight doubles since 2006, when Josh Barfield, Jake Peavy and current Dodgers skipper Roberts all did so.
"Hitting's obviously very contagious, and we've had a couple guys swinging the bat very well," Myers said. "I think it's just carried over into the rest of the lineup."

DIY: Los Angeles reliever Louis Coleman was a one-man defense in the sixth inning against San Diego's Jemile Weeks. Coleman bounced off the mound to glove Weeks' tapper, raced Weeks to first base and made a diving tag of the bag just before Weeks' foot landed on it for the out.

Gimme five: Rea coughed up the Padres' 2-0 lead by immediately walking the pitcher before allowing a two-run homer to Utley in the third. He did much better after San Diego went on top, 5-2, with a three-run fifth. It took him five pitches to retire the side in the bottom of the frame, and he wrapped up his night with a perfect sixth.
"I thought after us having that long top of the fifth inning, I thought they would maybe not be as aggressive there in the bottom half," Rea said. "But they came out aggressive, and we kept them off balance. We had a quick inning, so that was huge." More >

New role: Dodgers struggling setup man Chris Hatcher entered with a runner on second base and two outs in the seventh inning, the Dodgers down, 5-2. He walked Upton, the first batter he faced, but retired Ramirez on a forceout to escape the jam.

QUOTABLE
"Both rallies, we started the innings off with Colin Rea, offensively, punching out on three pitches. He was getting us going on offense, too -- take two fastballs, swing at the breaking ball in the dirt. We were laughing about that in the dugout." -- Green
WHAT'S NEXT
Padres:Drew Pomeranz takes the hill at 1:10 p.m. PT Sunday in search of his first career victory over Los Angeles, while the Padres eye their first sweep of the Dodgers since April 2013. Pomeranz is coming off his worst start of the season, in which he needed 101 pitches to get through 4 1/3 innings vs. San Francisco.
Dodgers:Clayton Kershaw, who held the Padres to one hit in seven scoreless innings on Opening Day, starts for the Dodgers in Sunday's 1 p.m. PT series finale. Kershaw is 13-6 with a 2.16 ERA and has held San Diego to a .199 batting average in his career..
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