SAN DIEGO — In town or out of town, there was no scoreboard worth watching for the Dodgers Tuesday night.
They ran out of a pair of rallies and fell to the Padres, 2-1, while the Cardinals won again, leaving the Dodgers 4 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the last Wild Card spot with only eight games to play.
It was Padres starter Edinson Volquez’s turn to throw zeros at the Dodgers’ offense, leaving no margin for error for counterpart Josh Beckett, whose solid 5 2/3 innings were undermined by a pair of leadoff walks that turned into San Diego’s only runs.
Before A.J. Ellis’ RBI double in the ninth scored Luis Cruz, who led off with a single for his third hit of the game, the Dodgers had two chances to score and came away empty both times.
Shane Victorino, who missed the weekend series in Cincinnati with a sprained left wrist, returned to the lineup and appeared to aggravate the injury while stealing a career-high 38th base after a second-inning single. Victorino was then thrown out at the plate by left fielder Chris Denorfia trying to score on Cruz’s single.
Beckett created a jam in the fourth with a walk of the first batter, Logan Forsythe, who was running on a 3-2 pitch that Chase Headley singled to right, Forsythe continuing to third. Beckett came off the mound to field Yasmani Grandal’s tapper, but his only play was to first as Forsythe scored.
In the top of the fifth, Cruz’s second hit was followed by a double-play ball from Ellis, but on the pivot Forsythe overthrew first and Ellis was awarded second base, where he was stranded.
The dreaded leadoff walk was Beckett’s undoing again in the fifth, this one to Will Venable. Beckett struck out Cameron Maybin and Volquez, but Venable stole second with Everth Cabrera batting. On a 2-1 pitch, Cabrera bunted back to Beckett, who threw the ball away as Venable scored.
Matt Kemp then started what could have been a productive sixth inning, only to run out of it. He was hit on the left elbow by a pitch with one out and was singled to second by Adrian Gonzalez, who was booed in his return to San Diego.
Hanley Ramirez’s tapper to third was fielded by Headley, who faked a throw to first, then whirled and threw to shortstop Cabrera, who was alertly covering third. Kemp had rounded the bag too far and was caught in a rundown.
Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.