SAN DIEGO _ The first rhythmic notes of "Beat L.A." echoed through an empty Petco Park at 6:12 p.m. Monday. Joc Pederson's first-pitch homer clanged off the seats in left-center moments later, a reminder that the road through the Los Angeles Dodgers to a return to the postseason would not be easy.
Chris Paddack wasn't the only one who answered.
Trent Grisham, Wil Myers and Fernando Tatis Jr. backed Paddack's first quality start against the Dodgers with solo homers off Walker Buehler and San Diego's bullpen outdueled Los Angeles' in a 5-4 victory to renew the most important rivalry on the Padres' schedule.
The drama dragged through the ninth when slumping closer Kirby Yates took the baton from Emilio Pagan and Drew Pomerenz and gave up a leadoff homer to reigning NL MVP Cody Bellinger before striking out the next three hitters to record his first save of the season. The lead Yates was protecting was built by Jake Cronenworth adding to a stellar defensive day with a run-scoring single in the sixth off the Dodgers' bullpen and Austin Hedges padding the lead with his first hit of the season in yet another game that teased that the Padres just might be moving closer to relevance in the NL West than they've been in a decade.
"What y'all saw tonight was playoff baseball," Paddack said after tossing his first quality start in four tries at the Dodgers. "It was back and forth, the energy level without the fans was tremendous. I'm excited to get the first one under our belt. That was a dogfight; we got the bone in Game 1."
The canyon to bridge, to be sure, is vast.
Over the last eight years, the Padres are 57-114 against the Dodgers for a .328 winning percentage.
They last won a series in 2010, 10-8, which also happens to be the last time they finished a season with a winning record.
You'd still have to go back a couple more years to their last playoff squad. Success over the Dodgers in 2006, when they won 13 of 18 meetings, was also tantamount to winning their last NL West crown.
The expectation this year is the road to October will go through L.A., one way or another. Whether the Padres are in the driver's seat or looking to make up ground when they finally move into AL West action in mid-August could teeter on how they navigate the seven games against the Dodgers over a harrowing 10-day stretch.
"This is one of the top teams in the league," Padres manager Jayce Tingler said. "There's no doubt about it. I know this group, in the clubhouse, we've got a lot of confidence but you have to test that."
Paddack didn't let Pederson's game-opening homer throw him for a loop against a Dodgers lineup that was missing superstar Mookie Betts to a finger injury.
His 95 mph fastball ambushed by Pederson, Paddack struck out the next two batters to settle down. He gave up a one-out single in the second and bobbled Chris Taylor's comeback tapper but got a pick-me-up when pseudo-first baseman Jake Cronenworth started an inning-ending double play on Will Smith's sharp grounder.
Cody Seager's leadoff double to start the fifth began Paddack's most taxing inning. Matt Beaty followed with a one-out single and Will Smith doubled to right-center to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead. By the time Hedges picked off Smith at third base, a 21-pitch frame had pushed Paddack's total to 73.
A scoreless sixth inning allowed Paddack to log his second quality start of the year and his first in four meetings with the Dodgers. He struck out five over six innings, allowed three runs on five hits and didn't walk anyone.
Perhaps as important for his development, he flashed his work-in-progress curve as regular as ever. The best of the 13 he threw _ he'd only thrown 10 total in his first two starts _ got reigning Bellinger to swing over with an ugly pass in the fourth inning.
On the flip-side, the Padres' new-look offense tested Buehler _ who started a no-hitter against San Diego as a rookie _ for the first time ... ever.
Grisham's first-inning homer _ his fourth of the year _ was only their second extra-base hit in 54 plate appearances against the 26-year-old right-hander. Myers' solo shot gave the Padres a lead in the fourth inning and Tatis' tied the game at 3-3 in the fifth after the Dodgers got to Paddack a half-inning earlier.
"Threw a cutter to Grisham and Myers," said Buehler, who did not allow any other hits, walked three and exited after five innings with his pitch count at 79. "Two sliders too high and then to Tatis a breaking ball that was a pretty impressive swing to take me out on a breaking ball like that and hit it the other way. ... Just three so-so pitches that they took advantage of."
Right-hander Brusdar Graterol took over from there and gave up a leadoff single to Manny Machado and Cronenworth's one-out RBI single before Caleb Fergerson entered the game with two outs. Abraham Almonte promptly singled and Hedges singled sharply to give the Padres a 5-3 lead in what had been a back-and-forth game.
"You're still facing a good arm in Paddack," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "He limited damage. ... He's a good arm. Those guys tonight, you could see it. The Padres came out with energy."
Maybe too much energy at times.
They were, after all, positioned to build on that lead in the seventh when Tatis opened the frame with a walk. But Grisham was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double and Tatis was caught in a rundown at the plate on Machado's flyball to right that ended with the Padres' shortstop trying to run through catcher Smith for the sixth run of the game.
Smith, however, hung onto the ball. Afterward, Tatis and Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner appeared to exchange words but Roberts said his team held no ill will.
"No, he's an aggressive player," Roberts said. "He plays with a lot of intensity. Our guy was there, he had the ball and he was in the way. That's just baseball. We don't take anything from it."
