The Padres arrived in Los Angeles this week looking to make a statement. For two nights, they did exactly that.

But the Dodgers are still the Dodgers and Mookie Betts is still Mookie Betts. They responded with a pair of emphatic victories over the past two nights, leaving the Padres to settle for an unsatisfying four-game split.

Betts went deep three times in an 11-2 Dodgers victory Thursday night. Tommy Pham and Eric Hosmer homered on back-to-back pitches in the first inning for San Diego, but starter Chris Paddack was roughed up from the outset, allowing six runs over three innings in the second shortest start of his career.

• Box score

“Put two runs up, you’ve got Paddack on the mound, you feel pretty good,” said Padres manager Jayce Tingler. “Obviously things turned pretty quickly.”

Here are four takeaways from the Padres’ four-game split at Dodger Stadium:

1. Chris Paddack needs to fix ... something

It's worth remembering how Paddack reacted after the only shorter start of his career -- a 2 1/3-inning dud against Boston last August. Prevailing wisdom said Paddack had run out of steam. Outsiders talked of an early shutdown.

Paddack made four more starts down the stretch, posting a 0.77 ERA with 32 strikeouts.

“You’re going to have rough starts,” Paddack said. “That’s part of this game. ... It’s how I’m going to respond.”

On Thursday night, Paddack surrendered three home runs, all on fastballs, and his typically pinpoint command of the pitch was nowhere to be seen. Paddack is convinced his mechanics are fine. But mentally, he wasn’t pleased at all with his gameplan vs. the Dodgers.

“I want to get back to my strengths,” Paddack said. “I feel like I’m giving the hitters too much credit, over[analyzing] scouting reports. ... I just need to do a better job of pitching to my strengths, getting back in that attack mode.”

2. Signs of life in the middle of the order

The Padres' once-hot offense came to a screeching halt over the past two nights. But it has still been one of the most prolific in baseball -- and that’s without production from Manny Machado and Pham, hitting .224 and .219, respectively, this season.

There are reasons to believe both Machado and Pham could be due for a breakout. In both cases, their expected averages and slugging percentages are significantly higher than their actual numbers -- indicating some bad batted-ball luck.

Machado, despite his 0-for-3 on Thursday, has found some rhythm at the plate, raising his OPS by 139 points since Saturday. His go-ahead grand slam on Tuesday night was one of the Padres’ biggest hits this season.

Pham, meanwhile, pulverized an 0-2 breaking ball from Dodgers starter Julio Urías to put San Diego on the board in the first inning Thursday. The Padres could use more where that came from.

3. It's a four-man rotation, plus one

The Padres still haven't named a starter for Saturday's game in Arizona, but there's a good chance they'll employ some variation of a bullpen day for the second time in a week. Even if Cal Quantrill gets the ball first, it's notable that the Padres haven't named him the starter yet. That's because he was available out of the ‘pen on Thursday night.

Four places in the Padres' rotation are secure. Paddack, Dinelson Lamet, Garrett Richards and Zach Davies will get the ball once every five games. The other spot? That’s currently a revolving door.

San Diego used a combination of six relievers on Monday to hold the Dodgers to one run. With a 15-man pitching staff and heightened urgency on every game -- why not?

“Twenty-eight man rosters, we’ve got a whole bunch of studs on this team -- whatever we need to do to win, we’re on board,” Quantrill said Monday night. "If that means three innings here, six innings there, one inning here, it really doesn’t matter to us. Win every single game; it doesn’t matter how you gotta do it."

4. The NL West is still an uphill climb

The Padres have made improvements up and down their roster. Their lineup is tougher with the additions of Pham and Trent Grisham. Their rotation is as effective as it's been in a decade. Fernando Tatis Jr. is emerging as a superstar. Even the Dodgers are taking note.

“They took a good step forward this year, made some good trades in the offseason, and I think that they feel confident and don't necessarily feel like they're a lesser team than us,” Ross Stripling said Tuesday night. “I think they feel like they can compete with us and they've shown it.”

That may be true. But the Dodgers remain the team to beat in the National League West. They’ve won seven consecutive division titles, then added Betts during the offseason. Fittingly, it was Betts -- who the Padres also pursued during the winter -- playing spoiler Thursday night.