Padres’ Win Can’t Spoil It for Dreifort

History is working against Darren Dreifort, who traveled a bumpy road to start over for the second time.

The Dodger right-hander is trying to become a trend-setter, and he appeared to be on the right path Friday night despite a 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres before 23,820 at Qualcomm Stadium.

Dreifort hopes to become the first pitcher to successfully return from multiple major pitching elbow reconstructions, so it was fitting he made his first regular-season start at the site he suffered his second tear almost two years ago.

“The whole night was a moment,” said Dreifort, who worked six strong innings. “It’s tough to enjoy a loss, but it was nice to be back out there in a regular game.

“I had a little extra adrenaline in the first inning. Once I was able to take the edge off, settle down a little bit, I felt pretty good.”

Dreifort walked off the mound in San Diego June 29, 2001 -- and returned Friday with the admiration of an organization.

“I was very pleased with Darren Dreifort’s return,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “I thought he did a great job. His rhythm, and everything else with his delivery was as smooth as I’ve seen him.”

The right-hander gave up five hits -- including Xavier Nady’s second home run -- and three runs, including one on a balk. Dreifort had six strikeouts and three walks while throwing 54 strikes in 88 pitches.

Fred McGriff hit his first home run as a Dodger, connecting against Mike Matthews with one out in the eighth to cut the deficit to 3-2, but Dreifort’s return and McGriff’s homer weren’t enough to stop the Dodgers from dropping the first two games of the four-game series.

The Dodgers squandered a scoring opportunity in the second after getting runners on the corners with none out against Padre starter Clay Condrey, who has started his first full season in good form. The right-hander gave up one run in five innings for the victory, leaving after suffering a mild right groin strain.

San Diego pushed across another run against Paul Quantrill in their half of the eighth after McGriff’s homer, getting a leadoff double from Gary Bennett, and perfect sacrifice bunts from former Dodger prospect Shane Victorino and Lou Merloni.

The Padre bullpen did its part, with Matthews pitching 2 1/3 innings and Luther Hackman two-thirds of an inning in front of Brandon Villafuerte, filling in for All-Star closer Trevor Hoffman. Villafuerte worked a perfect ninth for the Padres’ first save.

“If we would have done a little bit more offensively, I think we could have put him in much better shape,” Tracy said of Dreifort. “In the second inning, we let a situation get away there. We had first and third and nobody out.”

In the second, McGriff walked and took second on catcher Bennett’s passed ball. Brian Jordan, off to a fast start, singled up the middle and third base coach Glenn Hoffman held the 39-year-old McGriff at third.

Adrian Beltre didn’t get the ball out of the infield, grounding into a fielder’s choice as McGriff stayed at third. Alex Cora grounded to first baseman Dave Hansen, and Hansen threw to Bennett, who tagged McGriff while trying to retreat to third.

The inning ended with Cesar Izturis making the final out.

“We came away empty there,” Tracy said. “We had a chance in the second inning to really capitalize offensively there and put [Dreifort] in a position where he had some room for error, and we lost it there. But I thought he did a fantastic job.”