The Padres have not beaten the Dodgers in the rubber match of a three-game series since May 2018.

Petco Park fell about 3,000 spectators short of its record attendance for a three-game series. Fans brought signs ripped from Urban Dictionary, and even the scoreboard operator made headlines for making a meme, in an attempt to manufacture vitriol. To Betts, it injected little meaning into the games.

“It’s May,” Betts said. “We have a lot more baseball to play. It’s a good series win but it doesn’t mean anything more than we just won a series.”

The Dodgers (21-14) lead the National League West by 1 ½ games, matching their largest cushion of the season. The Padres (18-17) are three games behind, in second place. They will not wait long for a rematch. The Padres visit Dodger Stadium for three games beginning Friday.

Doubles by Fernando Tatís Jr., Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts staked San Diego to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Urías recovered to retire the next 10 batters, helped by a double play along the way.

Although he allowed eight hits to match a season high, the official scorer could easily have cut that number in half by awarding errors on shaky plays in the field. And the Padres did not have a hit with a runner in scoring position after the first inning.

“I didn’t try to change anything,” Urías said. “Control the things you can control. Obviously, the hit by Tatís was a little soft contact that fell a little luckily on their end. But you can’t really focus on things that happen throughout the course of the game, especially the things out of your control. I focused back on what I could do well.”

Padres starter Joe Musgrove was equal to the task. Chris Taylor’s softly hit single in the fifth inning was the Dodgers’ first hit of the game, and they didn’t score a run until the sixth. By then, Musgrove had allowed only two hits and scattered three walks while striking out five.

Freddie Freeman led off the sixth inning with a fly ball to left field that Juan Soto plainly dropped ? the game’s only error — and scored on a cleanly struck double by Will Smith. The Dodgers loaded the bases when reliever Tim Hill hit Outman with a pitch, then walked Miguel Vargas. But Steven Wilson took over and got David Peralta to fly out, ending the inning.

Again in the eighth inning, the Dodgers put runners on first and second base with none out. Smith hit his second double of the game, and Max Muncy drew a walk. But Nick Martinez retired Busch, Outman and Vargas to end the threat.

Outman reviewed his at-bat against Martinez immediately afterward. He said he didn’t see a pitch down the middle of the plate; the only sensible adjustment “was no adjustment at all.” In the 10th inning, the rookie looked for a hittable pitch again and smacked it 344 feet for his first home run in nearly two weeks.

A game that began with a rookie mistake, and a series that began with an off-day from a future Hall of Famer, had come full circle.

“After the first inning, Julio was lights-out,” Outman said. “I think our staff keeping us in the game was the biggest thing. We were able to flush (the first inning) because we were in the game. There was no reason to dwell on it because we need runs now.”