LOS ANGELES — For the past two months, the Dodgers have largely tried to ignore the San Diego Padres, figuring they just had to take care of their own business and their National League West lead would stay sufficient to claim the division title for the 11th time in 12 years. They can’t ignore them any longer. In the opener of the most important September series the Dodgers have played since 2021, the Padres took it to the Dodgers, handing them a 4-2 loss on Tuesday night. The Dodgers threatened in the ninth inning, scoring once and putting the tying runs on base for Miguel Rojas – with Shohei Ohtani on deck. But third baseman Manny Machado handled Rojas’ hard ground ball to his backhand and started a spectacular 5-4-3 triple play to end the game. The loss trims the Dodgers’ lead in the division to just two games, matching the smallest it has been since April 25. Their magic number remains four. The Dodgers (93-64) will have to win the next two games against the Padres (91-66) in order to clinch before leaving town for a season-ending weekend series in Colorado – and need to win at least one of the two to avoid leaving town in a tie with the Padres. The Padres clinched a postseason berth with their eighth victory in 11 meetings with the Dodgers this season. Back on July 19, the Padres were no concern of the Dodgers who led them by eight games (and the Arizona Diamondbacks by seven). But the Padres have been the best team in baseball since then, going 41-16 and closing the gap on the Dodgers (who have been no slouches at 36-23 in that time). The Dodgers took an early lead when Shohei Ohtani led off the first inning with a ground rule double – his franchise record 95th extra-base hit of the season. He scored his MLB-leading 129th run of the season when Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts fielded Mookie Betts’ routine grounder and threw it away, over the head of first baseman Donovan Solano. Betts went to third on Teoscar Hernandez’s one-out single, but Betts was caught off third base when Hernandez broke from first base and got hung up between bases. Betts’ feint for home drew a throw and he was late getting back to third. An inning later, the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs but Betts couldn’t check his swing on a 1-and-2 sweeper from Padres right-hander Michael King. Related Articles Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodgers promote minor-league pitcher who hit 104 mph this season Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodgers’ Joe Kelly sees potential for more fun amid the grind Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani named NL Player of the Week after historic surge Los Angeles Dodgers | Dodgers walk off Rockies on back-to-back homers from Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts Los Angeles Dodgers | ‘Lesson learned,’ Anthony Banda could return to Dodgers soon The litany of wasted opportunities continued in the third inning when Hernandez was doubled off first on a line drive to second base. The Padres’ defense did the Dodgers no favors all night long. Profar made two diving catches in left field, taking hits away from Ohtani in the fifth and Betts in the eighth. And, Jackson Merrill tracked down Betts’ drive at the center field wall in the fifth inning. By then, the Padres had built a lead and chased Dodgers starter Landon Knack from the game. Jake Cronenworth did most of the damage with a two-run home run in the second inning and a two-out RBI double during a two-run fourth inning. Xander Bogaerts preceded him with a two-out RBI single in that fourth inning. Knack was done after four innings, the eighth time in the past 13 games the Dodgers’ starting pitcher gave them four innings or fewer. In their past 14 games, Dodgers starters have a 6.71 ERA (not including last week’s ‘bullpen game’ started by reliever Ryan Brasier). More to come on this story.