SAN DIEGO _ The Los Angeles Dodgers arrived at Petco Park on Monday with a 20-game lead in the National League West with 30 games to play _ half-sprinting, half-walking backward to their seventh straight division title.
With a magic number of 12, they could do so faster than any team ever. The 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates clinched the National League pennant on Sept. 2. Just five other teams have clinched a division title by Sept. 8, the last being the 1999 Cleveland Indians.
Their first step was getting past Eric Lauer, Dodger slayer.
And just when it appeared they had done so, they lost their focus and their lead, and then they lost the game 4-3 to the Padres.
The left-hander, whose 1.72 ERA in six starts was the best among 65 active major league pitchers who had made at least a half-dozen career starts against the Dodgers, was not his usual self against the team he says nobody likes.
But a strange half-inning immediately after he departed helped him improve to 5-0 in his career against Dodgers.
A home run and RBI double by Justin Turner and Enrique Hernandez's home run had the Dodgers up 3-1 when Austin Allen pinch-hit for Lauer to start the bottom of the sixth.
Allen doubled and Greg Garcia singled before Josh Naylor grounded a single through the hole at shortstop, scoring Allen. When center fielder A.J. Pollock's relay throw hopped through Turner's legs at third base and rolled into the dugout, it brought Garcia home and sent Naylor to third. Manny Machado's grounder gave the Padres a 4-3 lead.
Matt Strahm pitched two scoreless innings to get the ball to Kirby Yates, who earned his major league-leading 38th save by striking out the side around hitting Max Muncy.
