NL West knotted despite Dodgers' late threats

SAN DIEGO -- On a night when their chances to do viable damage were few and far between, the Dodgers had an opportunity they couldn't afford to waste in the top of the eighth inning.

Hard-throwing Padres righty Mason Miller was on the mound. The Dodgers were down a run. They had two speedy rookies, Alex Freeland and Justin Dean, on first and second with one out. Manager Dave Roberts lifted nine-hole hitter Buddy Kennedy in favor of Dalton Rushing, with Shohei Ohtani on deck.

On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Rushing tapped a grounder toward first baseman Luis Arraez, who threw to second for one out. From there, shortstop Xander Bogaerts tried to turn two. The initial ruling on the field was that Rushing beat the throw to first, but it was overturned upon review and the Dodgers' rally was over just as quickly as it had started.

Once that opportunity slipped away, the Dodgers came up short with another scoring threat in the ninth before falling, 2-1, to the Padres on Friday night at Petco Park.

With the loss, Los Angeles and San Diego are tied atop the National League West -- although L.A. effectively leads by a game because it has clinched the head-to-head tiebreaker.

"I think when you're in it, you don't really have the time to think about disappointment and what could've been," Roberts said. "You've got to just go out there and deal with what's going on right now. We're tied in the standings, and we've got to win a game tomorrow. There's just no other way to look at it."

Blake Snell turned in another strong performance, with seven innings of two-run ball, but his team wasn't able to back him while facing a gauntlet of San Diego arms. Opposite Snell, Yu Darvish allowed three total baserunners and held the Dodgers to one hit across six innings.

Darvish retired the first seven Dodgers he faced before surrendering a no-doubt solo home run to Freeland -- the first of his Major League career -- and hitting Kennedy in the third inning. Darvish then retired 10 of his last 11, with Ohtani drawing a walk in the sixth before being erased when Mookie Betts grounded into a double play.

"It's bittersweet," Freeland said. "I mean, yeah, it's cool that I hit my first career home run, but the only thing I really care about is winning the game."

While the Dodgers lived and died by the long ball, the only runs Snell gave up were the product of some Padres small ball in the fourth inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Manny Machado's RBI single. Two batters later, Machado came around to score what would be the game-winning run on Xander Bogaerts' sacrifice fly.

Snell otherwise held the Padres off the board in his sixth and longest start of the season, striking out five and working around six hits and two walks.

"Really good lineup and he really navigated it. Got through seven innings. Just a really stellar performance," Roberts said of Snell, who left after the game to be with his wife, who is expecting the couple's second child. "Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out Darvish. They went to the ’pen, and [we] really threatened a couple times late but just couldn't get that big hit."

The Dodgers were within striking distance, but it wasn't until the eighth inning that they got their first good chance to build an inning. It ended with Ohtani in the on-deck circle, but that meant he was due up to open the ninth against Padres closer Robert Suárez.

Just like the inning prior, there was some life. Ohtani just missed a game-tying homer, flying out to the warning track in center. Betts and Freddie Freeman notched a pair of hits to bookend a Will Smith strikeout. That put runners on the corners for Teoscar Hernández, who struck out swinging to end it.

During this stretch in which the Dodgers have gotten inconsistent production from their lineup, they've been encouraged by their ability to create opportunities.

But opportunities don't win games, nor do they win divisions. For the Dodgers to be alone atop the NL West once more, they'll need to cash in on as many chances as they can.

“Obviously, we’re fighting for the division. But this one is in the past," Hernández said. "We’re going to continue to work hard, come here tomorrow and try to win.”