May lacks command in latest outing
striking out nine and walking two, to improve to 12-7 with a 3.26 ERA to lead the Padres, who are battling for a wild-card spot, to their fourth straight win.
The Dodgers (90-41) have lost three straight games for the first time since June 1012, when they were swept at San Francisco.
May walked Juan Soto and Machado with one out in the first but escaped the jam by getting Josh Bell to pop out to third and freezing Jake Cronenworth with an 86-mph, knee-high curve that he dotted on the outside corner for strike three.
May’s control problems hurt him in the third. After Soto took a 99.8-mph fastball inside for a one-out walk, Machado lined his 25th homer of the season into the left-field pavilion for a 2-0 San Diego lead.
Bell struck out, but Cronenworth was hit by a pitch, and Drury lined a full-count sinker into left-field seats for his 25th homer and a 4-0 lead. May retired the side in order in the fifth but was pulled after hitting Drury in the helmet with an 84-mph curve and walking Trent Grisham to open the sixth.
Right-hander Heath Hembree struck out HaSeong Kim and Austin Nola and was one strike away from escaping the jam when he gave up a three-run homer to Jurickson Profar for a 7-0 Padres lead.
Two of the runs were charged to May, leaving the red-haired hurler with an unsightly final line: five innings, four hits, six earned runs, five walks, five strikeouts.
Dodgers infielder Hanser Alberto threw a scoreless ninth to set a major league record with seven pitching appearances by a nonpitcher in one season.
The Dodgers’ bullpen got a potentially huge shot in the arm before the game when
veteran right-hander Blake Treinen, out since mid-April because of a shoulder injury, was activated.
The team will have five weeks to determine whether Treinen can regain the primary setup role he held in 2020 and 2021 — or possibly replace wobbly closer Craig Kimbrel — or if he’ll be more of a complementary piece to Kimbrel, Evan Phillips, Chris Martin and Alex Vesia.
Treinen was dominant in 2021, going 6-5 with a 1.99 ERA in 72 games. He had a 4.50 ERA in seven triple-A rehabilitation outings, striking out nine and walking one in six innings, but his fastball was clocked between 92-95 mph, down its usual 97.5 mph in 2021.
“I don't know if that was adrenaline-related,” manager Dave Roberts said. “In talking to Blake, the training staff, he feels strong and feels great.”
Roberts said Treinen will be used “in leverage, whatever
that means,” but will enter games to start innings and will not go multiple innings for now.
Trea gets a day
A crowbar was not needed to pry shortstop Trea Turner out of the lineup. Turner started the first 130 games in the field, but after a road trip with two latenight flights and an 0-for-13 skid in three games against the New York Mets, it was time for a day off.
“I fought him off for [130] games, but I knew it was gonna happen eventually,” Turner said. “It probably makes sense to take a quick breather and get back out there [Saturday].”
Before Friday, Turner was one of four big-leaguers to start every game in the field this season, joining teammate Freddie Freeman, who started in his 131st straight game, and Atlanta shortstop Dansby Swanson and first baseman Matt Olson, who have started all 133 games.
Short hops
Tony Gonsolin (forearm strain) resumed his throwing program after an MRI test did not reveal a serious injury. … Gavin Lux (sore neck) was scratched and replaced by Alberto.