The San Diego Padres are in the middle of a key race for the National League West against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

While the one hit Yu Darvish allowed was a home run, and he also hit a batter and walked one, a one-out single by Miguel Rojas in the sixth inning gave the Dodgers their only baserunner against Cortes. It was the first time in 92 career starts that Cortes made it through five perfect innings.

When they swept the San Diego Padres last weekend, the Los Angeles Dodgers rendered their vaunted bullpen mostly useless. San Diego flipped the script Friday night in a 2-1 win that enabled the Padres to tie Los Angeles for first place in the National League West,

Manny Machado drove in three runs against Justin Verlander and the San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 8-4 on Thursday in a sloppy game. The Padres took three of four from the Giants and have won three straight going into a second straight weekend showdown against the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Yu Darvish combined with three relievers on a three-hitter, and the San Diego Padres pulled even with the Los Angeles Dodgers atop the NL West once again with a 2-1 victory