Losses Mount for the Dodgers

General Manager Dan Evans has been playing it cool, insisting there is no reason for the Dodgers to panic.

They might have many now.

Not only did the Dodgers suffer their season-high sixth straight loss Thursday night, 7-4, to the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium, they also might have lost staff ace Kevin Brown.

A hostile crowd of 31,455 booed the reeling team as it was swept in its second consecutive three-game series and dropped to 1-9 in its last 10 games.

“We have to keep plugging along and try to turn things around after these 10 games,” right fielder Shawn Green said. “We have to turn it around; there’s three months to play.”

The Dodgers (45-38) fell to third place in the National League West on the eve of a showdown against the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks that begins tonight at Dodger Stadium.

The fans’ anger toward the Dodgers was briefly redirected to concern about Brown, who was removed in the fifth inning because of a lower abdominal strain.

“He has an abdominal strain and he’s day-to-day,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “We’ll know more tomorrow.” The injury appeared to occur while Brown went from first to third on Wilkin Ruan’s double in a three-run fourth.

Tracy and team trainer Matt Wilson conferred with Brown on the third-base bag, and Tracy allowed the stubborn right-hander to remain in the game.

After pitching a scoreless fifth inning, Brown moved very slowly from the field as his work was clearly finished.

Brown (10-4) worked fewer than six innings for only the fourth time this season, losing his third consecutive start. He gave up eight hits and five runs (two earned), striking out six with one walk.

The Padres raced to a 5-0 lead in the second against Brown in winning their fifth in a row and sweeping a three-game series in Los Angeles for the first time since 1999. The Dodgers pulled to within 5-4, but Ryan Klesko’s two-run home run against Tom Martin iced the victory for last-place San Diego (31-55).

Adam Eaton (3-7) gave up one earned run in six innings for the victory, and Rod Beck earned his second save of the series and sixth overall. The Dodgers were swept in back-to-back three-game series for the first time since 1993, and grave concern, if not panic, is definitely in the air at Chavez Ravine.

“The last week or so has been brutal, but every club goes through something like that,” Tracy said. “As long as we don’t allow ourselves to be thrown under the bus, we have a chance to come off of it.”

The Dodgers removed Brown from a start June 17 after he strained his left groin. The injury occurred in the seventh inning of a 4-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium, and the Dodgers were relieved when they learned their staff ace wouldn’t be sidelined.

But Brown was rocked in losing his next start, 6-3, to the Angels on June 22 -- 10 hits and four earned runs in five innings. He had a strong seven-inning performance in dropping his second start in a row, 3-0, to the Angels last Friday at Edison Field, and then there was Thursday.

Brown labored as the Padres scored five runs in the second to take a 5-0 lead. He didn’t appear to possess his usual razor-sharp command, and wasn’t overpowering.

The Dodgers steadily chipped away at the Padres’ 5-0 lead.

They scored their first run in the bottom of second, getting an RBI bloop single from Cesar Izturis after Alex Cora singled and stole second.

Then in the fourth, an error by Padre shortstop Donaldo Mendez contributed to a three-run inning as the Dodgers pulled within 5-4.

In the Padres’ five-run second, only two of the runs were earned.

With Sean Burroughs on first after an opening single, Gary Matthews grounded to second baseman Cora, who charged the ball and tossed to Izturis at the second-base bag.

But umpire Ted Barrett ruled Izturis never had control of the ball, which replays seemed to confirm.

That opened the gates to a big inning that put the Dodgers in a huge hole.