Rea and Jay both went down swinging to give Stripling two quick outs in the fifth. However, the right-hander followed that by walking Myers and Kemp. Melvin Upton Jr. cashed in on the RBI situation by driving a two-run double to the right-center field gap.
Alexei Ramirez followed with an RBI single to left, extending the Padres’ lead to 5-2 and knocking Stripling out of the game. Louis Coleman entered and struck out Derek Norris to end the inning.
The Dodgers did little to make Rea work in the bottom of the fifth, going down in order on just five pitches. Coleman fielded a grounder up the first base line and dove to tag the base in time to retire Jemile Weeks.
Coleman then struck out Rosales and got Rea to fly out. The San Diego righty once again kept the Dodgers off the board for another inning, retiring Gonzalez, Grandal and Hernandez in order. Coleman exited with two outs in the seventh inning and responsible for Myers, who doubled in the inning.
Chris Hatcher heard boos upon entering the game, and did little to win the crowd over by promptly walking Upton Jr. Hatcher did manage to get out of the inning unscathed as Ramirez grounded into a force out.
Ryan Butcher worked around a two-out walk to pinch-hitter Howie Kendrick in the bottom of the seventh to throw a scoreless inning of relief. The Dodgers didn’t muster any offense the rest of the way and suffered a 5-2 loss, pushing their losing streak to six games.
In addition, the Dodgers’ 12-13 record in April translated to their first losing month since September 2013.
