Padres, Winners of 9 of Last 10, Take Second Straight from Dodgers, 8-1

The Padres again took advantage of the Dodgers’ Achilles heel – pitching – staking starter Dylan Cease to an early lead in an 8-1 victory Wednesday.

It wasn’t as thrilling as Monday’s extra-inning comeback win, in which the Friars exploited L.A.’s problematic bullpen, but this time they went after another vulnerability – the Dodgers injury-riddled starting staff.

The Padres got to Clayton Kershaw – making just his second start of the year – early with four runs in the second inning, then added three more in the fourth to knock him out of the game.

They opened the scoring in the second when, with one out, Jackson Merrill singled and Ha-Seong Kim walked, followed by a Luis Campusano single to drive in Merrill.

Kershaw didn’t help his own cause, with an error on a bunt by Bryce Johnson, to score Kim, and a wild pitch that sent Johnson and Campusano to second and third. They both would score, Campusano on a ground out by Luis Arraez and Johnson on a single by Jurickson Profar.

Campusano and Profar would finish with two RBIs each – the catcher added a solo home run in the fourth and the left fielder a second run-scoring single. Both also were among five Padres who contributed two hits each to the team’s 12-hit attack.

Cease, coming off his no-hitter in Washington and the resulting National League Player of the Week award, went 5.2 innings, giving up one run and three hits while striking out six. L.A. also failed to get a hit against four Friar relievers.

The Padres, in winning the ninth of their last 10 games, took the season series with the Dodgers 7-3, the first time that’s happened since 2010, when they won 90 games. The Friars are not only are in the thick of the wild-card race, but also now are just 4.5 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

Yet manager Mike Shildt remained level-headed during his post-game interview, simply praising Cease and the team for its execution at the plate and in the field.

“Ultimately it’s about how we play and we’re looking to take care of our business,” he said.

After an off-day Thursday, the home stand continues with a team from the other end of the division – the Rockies, who are 31 games under .500. The pitching match-ups are TBD.