alex freeland

DENVER — When the Dodgers arrived in Colorado on Sunday night they had a golden opportunity to pad their narrow division lead against with the worst team in the majors. The best they could do was hold serve, needing Thursday’s 9-5 win over the Rockies to earn a split of the four-game series.

Now they head to San Diego for a crucial three-game series against the Padres with the division lead once again up for grabs.

“I wish we had won all four, but it just didn’t happen,” Dodger manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s just the way baseball is. So we’ve got to go out there and regardless of the standings, we’ve got to beat those guys.”

The standings, however, loom large. On July 7, the Dodgers led the division by six games. The margin is now just a game.

The Padres, who have won 12 of 19 games in August, are the third-hottest team in the National League this month. The Dodgers are a game over .500.

“It is what it is,” Roberts said. “It’s where we’re at right now and I can’t change it. I feel good about our club going into San Diego.”

His club will have a bit of momentum on its side after scoring 20 runs on 30 hits in the two wins at Coors Field. Thursday’s matinee saw four players finish with multiple hits, including third baseman Alex Freeland, who was a career-best three for five with a run scored and another driven in. Freeland had six hits in the final three games in Denver.

“It’s just like I’m building confidence now,” said Freeland, who entered Thursday hitting .180 since his call-up from Triple A Oklahoma City three weeks ago. “I’ve kind of spent a little time here now and I’m getting comfortable.”

The Dodgers also got a fourth straight strong effort from starter Clayton Kershaw (8-2), who gave up three runs in 5 2/3 innings. Kershaw has allowed just five runs over 23 2/3 innings this month, dropping his season ERA nearly 50 points to 3.13.

That was also good enough to keep his team in first, something he noted afterward.

Fans applaud as Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw heads to the dugout after being pulled from the mound in the sixth inning Thursday.

(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

“You can’t take anything for granted in Colorado, obviously,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we’re [one] up going in [to San Diego]. So we feel good about it.”

Freeland agreed.

“We definitely could have produced more. But you know what? We’re going to take this one today and take this momentum and bring it into San Diego,” he said.

After Kershaw won the opener of a three-game series with the Padres at Dodger Stadium a week ago, the teams were even atop the N.L. The Dodgers wound up sweeping that series and have won eight of 10 with the Padres overall this year.

“We’ve played well against those guys this year,” Roberts said. “They’re going to give us everything they have this weekend.”

The Dodgers got started early Thursday with Mookie Betts, who reached base four times, opening the game by walking on five pitches. Freddie Freeman followed with a two-run home run, his 16th of the season, to center field.

The Rockies cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning on a popup that got lost in the sun, a sacrifice bunt, a balk and an RBI groundout. But they would get no closer, with the Dodgers scoring in each of the first five innings to take an 8-2 lead.

Freeland had his first career triple along with a double and single, falling a homer shy of the cycle. He had six hits in the final three games in Denver. Betts finished two for three with two walks and two runs scoring while Freeman, who was two for five, raised his season average to .304 and is hitting .328 for August.

Notes: Roberts said pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is fine after taking a line drive off his right thigh in Wednesday’s game. Ohtani was scheduled to have Thursday off and Roberts said he’ll be back in the lineup Friday. … The Dodgers will activate reliever Tanner Scott before Friday’s game in San Diego and reliever Kirby Yates on Saturday. Scott has been out a month with inflammation in his left elbow while Yates has missed three weeks with lower back pain. … Right-hander Roki Sasaki made progress in his second rehab start Wednesday, going 3 1/3 innings and giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits. He walked three and struck out two before leaving after 60 pitches. He will make another rehab start next week before the Dodgers make any decision on his role in September. The team had talked about using Sasaki in a relief role.

On a night the Dodgers had a stadium-wide giveaway promotion for the anime show “Demon Slayer,” the club slayed a few recently troublesome demons of its own.

In the opening game of this season’s biggest series to date, they finally found a way not to trip over themselves.

By beating the San Diego Padres 3-2 at Dodger Stadium, the club moved back into a tie with the Padres for first place in the National League West.

They got six strong innings from Clayton Kershaw; plus, in a refreshing change of pace, plenty of crisp, clean defense behind him.

And though a lineup that lost Max Muncy to the injured list with an oblique strain before the game was largely contained by the Padres (who had to go with a bullpen game after scheduled starter Michael King was shelved with a shoulder injury), the Dodgers still managed to break their four-game losing streak thanks to their biggest weakness of late.

For the first time in what felt like several weeks, a scuffling bullpen finally didn’t cough up a late, narrow lead.

The Dodgers (69-53) came into this weekend’s rivalry series reeling in a way that once seemed impossible for this year’s $400-million team.

Since July 4, they were just 12-21. What had been a nine-game division lead then was transformed into a one-game deficit to the Padres, who came to Los Angeles riding high thanks to a monster trade deadline and a recent 14-3 streak.

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More dark clouds formed a few hours before first pitch when Muncy (who missed Wednesday’s game with side soreness) was placed on the injured list with a Grade 1 oblique strain, sidelining him for at least the next several weeks.

And though the Dodgers had taken five of seven games from the Padres (69-53) earlier this season, they suddenly felt more like an underdog now, searching for answers to their recently inconsistent offense, unsound fundamentals and untrustworthy bullpen (which had squandered five games in the past two weeks).

“I don’t like to be embarrassed. I don’t think our players do [either],” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “So this series, I’m expecting high intensity and high performance.”

The Dodgers delivered on both.

Kershaw set the tone, displaying a vintage demeanor even with his ever-diminished stuff. Before the game, he marched through the clubhouse and hunched over his locker, leafing through a scouting report while teammates carefully tip-toed around him. Between innings, he quietly paced in the dugout while avoiding almost any human contact. And when he was atop the mound, he pounded the strike zone and executed pitch after pitch, yielding his only run in the second inning when Ramón Laureano (one of several sizzling San Diego deadline acquisitions) clipped the outside of the left-field foul pole to open the scoring.

“There’s just no one more intense or focused than Clayton,” Roberts said. “He has a way of elevating people’s focus and play.”

It certainly appeared that way. Defensively, the Dodgers helped Kershaw out by turning several tough plays around the infield — from Freddie Freeman picking a ball in the dirt the second inning, to Alex Freeland and then Kershaw himself making tough plays in the third and fifth, respectively.

At the plate, the Dodgers also managed to capitalize on a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity in the third, after singles from Michael Conforto and Freeland were followed by a popped-up Miguel Rojas bunt that Padres third baseman Manny Machado couldn’t catch with a dive.

The Dodgers didn’t get another hit in the inning, but Shohei Ohtani drove in one run by beating out a potential double-play ball. Mookie Betts then added a go-ahead sacrifice fly.

The score remained 2-1 until Teoscar Hernández belted an opposite-field homer in the seventh, producing a massively important insurance run.

Then, it was up to the bullpen, which was asked to protect the kind of slim late-game lead they’ve squandered all too often during the team’s recent skid.

Dodgers relief pitcher Jack Dreyer celebrates after the final out of a 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Ben Casparius pitched a scoreless seventh inning, stranding a two-out double from Jackson Merrill.

Alex Vesia created a jam in the eighth by hitting two batters and loading the bases on a walk. But the Padres only managed one run, with Vesia getting Luis Arraez to hit a sacrifice fly before Blake Treinen came on and retired Manny Machado on a first-pitch pop-up.

In the ninth inning, surprisingly, Roberts didn’t stick with Treinen — who they’ve been wary of using for multiple innings as he continues to work his way back from an early-season elbow injury.

The move might’ve been questionable. But, at long last, the result didn’t backfire.

Alexis Díaz and Jack Dreyer pitched around a single from Merrill in the ninth.

The Dodgers finally held on to a late lead. And after spending the last 48 hours in second place, the team climbed back to the top of the division standings, exorcising the close-game demons that had so dauntingly haunted them over the last several weeks.

CINCINNATI — The Dodgers are dealing with more injuries to their lineup.

As a result, one of their top prospects could get his first big-league opportunity this week.

Alex Freeland, the top-ranked infielder in the Dodgers’ farm system, will be in Cincinnati on Tuesday in case either Tommy Edman (who had his lingering ankle injury flare up on him Sunday while rounding the bases) or Hyeseong Kim (who has been battling a shoulder issue over the last week) needs to go on the injured list, manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers’ Monday night win over the Reds.

“He’s going to come and we’ll see what direction we go, with who,” Roberts said. “We’re just kind of trying to figure out … if we do need to make a move for one of those guys.”

Freeland, a third-round pick in 2022 out of the University of Central Florida, is the team’s No. 3 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline and the 35th-ranked prospect in baseball.

The 23-year-old switch-hitter has spent all season with triple-A Oklahoma City, where he has batted .253 with 12 home runs, 71 RBIs and .799 OPS in 94 games.

Now, he might get his first crack at the big-league roster, with the Dodgers facing another round of injury headaches following Monday’s game.

In the short term, Kim’s shoulder injury appears to be the more pressing issue.

The South Korean rookie has struggled mightily at the plate lately, with an 0-for-3 performance Monday leaving him just three for 24 since July 19.

“You can just see offensively with the bat, he’s just not himself right now,” Roberts said.

Dodgers infielder Hyeseong Kim, who is dealing with a shoulder injury, has struggled at the plate in recent games.

(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

Edman, however, represents the bigger long-term concern for the Dodgers to manage, with his ankle injury lingering since early May.

“It’s something that’s kind of always there,” Edman said. “But I would say it’s been pretty normal.”

At least it was until Sunday, when Edman said he “had a little tweak of it” while running the bases at Fenway Park.

While Edman was not available for Monday’s game, he maintained optimism he could avoid what would be a second injured list this season and be back in the lineup Tuesday.

“I don’t feel like this is that big a deal,” he said. “I was just at a point where I didn’t feel like I could run full speed today. I got some good treatment today so hopefully I’ll be back available tomorrow.”

Still, the Dodgers could decide that an extended break for the utilityman is warranted — especially since he has been unable to play outfield while trying to manage his injury.

“Obviously, if I couldn’t hit him tonight, for him to not to be able to play three innings of defense, isn’t a great feeling,” Roberts said.

Freeland will be waiting in the wings just in case.

A native of Louisville, Ken., he made a major jump up the Dodgers’ farm system last year, when he progressed from high A to triple A while batting .260 across three minor-league levels.

A disciplined hitter with 228 career walks in 345 career minor-league games, Freeland has received high marks for his defense at shortstop and third base. He also has 81 steals over his four minor-league seasons.

How will the Dodgers determine if Kim or Edman — or both — will need to go on the IL?

“That’s the thing that, it is a blurred line,” Roberts said. “The players obviously feel that they’re not hurt, where they can play and post, which is great. But the line of, are you still hurting the team, hurting yourself, that’s the thing that the organization, the training staff, we’ve got to make that decision.”

When and if they do, the Dodgers know who will be tapped as a potential replacement.