Dodgers 2, Padres 1
LOS ANGELES -- Rookie center fielder Joc Pederson hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers snapped a three-game skid with a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres before a crowd of 48,514 at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.
Pederson, who went 2-for-4, drilled an 0-2 fastball from reliever Joaquin Benoit (4-2) and parked it in the right-center pavilion as Los Angeles (25-16) prevailed. It was Pederson's 11th homer this season.
Dodgers reliever Chris Hatcher (1-3) threw eight pitches in a one-third of an inning to halt his winless skid. Closer Kenley Jansen earned his second save with a perfect ninth.
Los Angeles starter Zack Greinke gave up a run on six hits with five strikeouts and a walk. Greinke, who has never lost to the Padres, threw 105 pitches (69 strikes), but did not factor into the decision.
San Diego's Andrew Cashner worked six solid innings allowing a run (unearned) on five hits. Cashner struck out three and walked one on 109 pitches (72 strikes).
San Diego (20-23), which lost its third in a row, rallied from a 1-0 deficit on center fielder Will Venable's run scoring single in the seventh inning.
Right fielder Andre Ethier broke the Dodgers' scoring drought with an RBI double in the fifth inning. Ethier drove in third baseman Justin Turner, who led off the inning with a single and reached second on an error Venable for a 1-0 Dodgers lead and briefly ended the club's offensive woes.
It snapped a string of 35 consecutive innings without a run, tying the Los Angeles mark set by the 1962 club, which went scoreless from Sept. 28-Oct. 2. The run was unearned.
The Dodgers, who failed to score in a three-game sweep by the San Francisco Giants this week, hadn't plated a run since a 1-0 decision Sunday over the Colorado Rockies.
Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal left the game in the fifth inning after taking a Matt Kemp foul ball off his mask.
NOTES: Dodgers LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu held a press conference before the game, one day after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder. Ryu, who wore a sling, is out for the season. However, the Korean pitcher, who didn't pitch this season, is confident he will be fully recovered for spring training next year. ... The Padres played 34 of their previous 42 games this season against teams with a record .500 or better, the highest total in Major League Baseball. ... Padres RHP Ian Kennedy (2-3, 6.75 ERA) will face Dodgers RHP Mike Bolsinger (2-0, 1.04 ERA) on Saturday.