Dodgers ready for high-stakes Padres rematch after up-and-down trip to Denver

DENVER -- Mookie Betts was sitting on the couch in the visitors’ clubhouse at Coors Field after the Dodgers salvaged a split of their four-game series with the Rockies with a 9-5 victory on Thursday.

As he ate his postgame meal, overhead on the television was the Padres-Giants game. It was in the seventh inning, and San Diego was on its way to a victory that would keep it one game behind Los Angeles in the National League West standings.

Betts, who went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and a pair of walks in Thursday’s win, wasn’t the only one in the room with San Diego on his mind. After a Jekyll-and-Hyde series against the team with the worst record in the Majors, the Dodgers head to Petco Park for their second showdown against the rival Padres in the span of a week.

When they arrived in Colorado, the Dodgers were coming off what appeared to be a statement sweep of San Diego at Dodger Stadium after the Padres had overtaken them in the standings. With a series against the Rockies sandwiched between the bookend Padres sets, the moment was ripe to build a cushion before the powerhouse clubs met again.

But that’s not what happened. And as the Dodgers fly back to the West Coast, questions abound as to which group we’ll see at Petco Park this weekend. Will it be the one that mustered little offense in a pair of losses to the Rockies, or the one that combined for 20 runs over two victories?

“I wish we’d have won all four,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It just didn’t happen. They beat us two games pretty handily. That’s just the way baseball is. We’ve got to go out there and, regardless of the standings, we’ve got to beat [the Padres].”

The Dodgers know that winning is the name of the game. It’s just that winning a little more in Colorado would’ve helped.

“I think we definitely could've produced more,” said rookie infielder Alex Freeland, who was 3-for-5 on Thursday with a double and his first MLB triple. “But you know what, we're gonna take this win today and take this momentum into San Diego."

Momentum, though, can be a fickle phenomenon. Take, for example, the stunner of a walk-off loss to the Rockies on Monday after the big weekend sweep. And then what appeared to be a letdown again on Wednesday when Shohei Ohtani was roughed up on the mound and the offense again went cold following an 18-hit barrage the night before.

The Dodgers are trending in the right direction in one key facet: health. Relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates are close to being activated off the injured list, with Roberts saying that the plan is to activate Scott prior to the series opener at Petco Park on Friday and potentially Yates on Saturday.

And Ohtani is expected back in the lineup on Friday despite being hit by a comebacker during his Wednesday start.

With the bullpen set to get a boost and the trio of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto lined up to start, the Dodgers definitely have some factors to feel good about.

So said Thursday’s starter, Clayton Kershaw, after the august veteran continued his impressive August with 5 2/3 solid innings against Colorado.

“You want to win every game you play, obviously,” said Kershaw, who gave up three runs on six hits while walking one and striking out three. “But at the end of the day, I think, depending on what happens in [the Padres’] game, we're two up going in, right? We feel good about that."

Well, one up. But the point stands, particularly given its source. Kershaw, Betts and many others on the roster have faced greater pressure before.

Freddie Freeman, who smashed a 451-foot homer to give the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead on Thursday, said after Tuesday’s win that this group is resilient, and that “one day isn't gonna change it for us.”

Still, the feeling of what could’ve been with four against the Rockies -- a club that the Dodgers had beaten 10 straight times entering the series -- has to be hard to shake.

“I think it is what it is,” Roberts said. “But it’s where we’re at right now. I can’t change it. I feel good about our club going into San Diego.

“ … We’ve obviously played well against those guys this year. They’re going to give us everything they have this weekend and we’ve got to be ready for it.”