For both the Dodgers and San Diego Padres, the assignment over the next few weeks figured to be simple:
Take care of business and beat the teams you’re supposed to.
After all, the Dodgers are beginning a stretch of 15 straight games against clubs below .500. The Padres, meanwhile, will play 13 of their next 16 games against opponents with losing records, the lone exception being the 68-67 Cincinnati Reds.
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It appeared to be an opportunity for each contender to stack up wins, build late-season momentum and try to wrest away control of a division race that the Dodgers currently lead by two games.
The only problem: They both flunked their first test on Friday.
Beating the bad teams, it turns out, isn’t always as easy as it seems.
In Los Angeles, the Dodgers suffered a lackluster 3-0 loss to the underperforming Arizona Diamondbacks, managing just three hits and getting only one runner in scoring position en route to suffering their seventh shutout this season. The Padres, meanwhile, were knocked around by the tanking Minnesota Twins in a 7-4 defeat earlier in the evening.
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It meant, for one night, the standings remained static.
Instead of catapulting themselves into exceedingly soft portions of their schedules, both teams stumbled to equally disappointing results.
At Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers’ loss ended their four-game winning streak — halting their recent upswing both on the mound and at the plate.
Starting pitcher Blake Snell gave up three runs in 5⅓ innings and battled through a stark drop in fastball velocity. After entering the night averaging 95.4 mph with his heater, Snell was stuck closer to 93 mph in his first start since the birth of his second child last weekend.
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“I had a busy week, man. A lot going on,” Snell said of his velocity drop. “I’m not worried about [it]. I know what’s going on. So it’ll come back. I’m zero worried about it. I mean, I was aware of it. But I’m not gonna push it. It is what it is. It’s what I had today. Just gotta be better.”
Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers in the first inning Friday against the Diamondbacks. (Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Though he struck out eight batters and gave up just four hits, one of them was costly: a two-run home run by Blaze Alexander in the fourth, on a fastball over the plate that clocked in at only 93.4 mph. Snell’s night ended…