LOS ANGELES _ The San Diego Padres know if they want to make the Fernando Tatis Jr. era successful, they need to join him producing runs.
Austin Hedges and Eric Hosmer were able to do just enough Monday night, as six Padres relievers subdued the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 2-1 victory.
Tatis hit an infield single leading off the eighth inning to extend his on-base streak to 16 games, though his extra-base hit streak and four-game home run streak were halted.
Before boarding a bus bound for L.A. on Sunday evening, Padres manager Jayce Tingler had reason for optimism when he spoke of the "bullpen getting a little cleaner, starting to find their rhythm" and an offense that had taken "a step in the right direction."
Tingler sent a good portion of that bullpen to the Dodger Stadium mound on Monday as the Padres evened their season series against the Dodgers at two games apiece.
After the Dodgers got a run off Luis Perdomo in the first inning, on a walk and two singles, Matt Strahm pitched two perfect innings and Cal Quantrill escaped having loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth before throwing a perfect fifth and sixth.
Craig Stammen worked a scoreless seventh by getting Joc Pederson on an inning-ending fielder's choice with runners at the corners.
Emilio Pagan retired the Dodgers in order in the eighth, and Drew Pomeranz earned his third save with a perfect ninth.
The Padres mustered just enough offense off Dustin May, whose sinking two-seam fastball at 99 mph and a bending 87 mph curve can make facing him seem unfair. The right-hander, who on Tuesday at Petco Park held the Padres to two runs on three hits while striking out eight, lost some control in Monday's sixth inning.
He walked Trent Grisham with one out and Tommy Pham with two outs before Hosmer battled off an 0-2 fastball and then a cutter before slapping a cutter the other way into shallow left field to score Grisham and give the Padres a 2-1 lead.
It was Hosmer's first hit in seven at-bats since returning from a stay on the injured list.
Hedges had tied the game 1-1 in the fifth with his first home run (and third hit) of the season, a 404-foot shot over the wall in straightaway center.
Before Hosmer came through, the heart of the Padres' order was again complicit in squandering opportunities.
In the second inning, after Pham led off with a single, Hosmer erased him with a double play grounder.
Manny Machado, who has gotten out on a lot of balls hit at over 100 mph, looped a double down the right field line at 79.2 mph with one out in the fourth inning. Pham then grounded out to second and Hosmer popped out down the right field line.
After Grisham drew a one-out walk in the sixth, Machado popped out in foul territory before Pham walked and Hosmer sliced the RBI single.
Tatis' single and a walk by Grisham started the eighth before Machado grounded into a double play (at 105 mph) and Pham struck out.
Hosmer is noticeably thinner after being unable to keep food or drink down for more than a week while suffering from a still-undiagnosed stomach issue. He was 5-for-10 with two doubles and a homer before going on the IL.
But Machado and Pham continued to leave the Padres wondering what could be if they were producing.
Machado, after hitting two home runs Sunday, entered Monday's game batting .222/.319/.460. Pham's single in the second was his third hit in 24 at-bats.
"Manny, Pham, Hosmer, for different reasons, obviously Hos has been sick, we know once we get going, it's just a matter of getting all our pistons to fire at once," Tingler said Sunday. "... When we get all four of those pistons firing, I think we've got a chance to heat up and get going."
It is true the Padres entered Monday's game leading the majors with a .795 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging percentage). But Tatis also led the majors in that category, at 1.226.
The rest of the team had a .736 OPS, a drop of 59 points without Tatis.
The Dodgers' .765 OPS entering Monday would have dropped 22 points without their leading hitter, Corey Seager.
Tatis has driven in 18 of the Padres 86 runs (21 percent). The Dodgers have 87 runs, with no player having driven in more than 12 of those.
Tatis had driven in seven of the team's 18 runs in its five games leading up to Sunday, when he had two RBIs in a 9-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he was one of six Padres to homer.
"In this little short stretch of a week, he's not missing pitches," Machado said Sunday. "He's been the big spark of why we won this series this weekend. As a group, collectively we need to clean our act up a little offensively and help him keep carrying us while we're down."
