Beltre in Walk-Off Role

In those dark days last season, and there were many, when Adrian Beltre believed the Dodgers had given up on him at 24, the third baseman confided in friends that things would be different this season no matter where he played.

They certainly are.

While Beltre’s surroundings have remained the same, much has changed, and the Dodgers continued to benefit Friday night as their cleanup batter hit a walk-off home run to cap a dramatic 3-2 victory over San Diego in a National League West showdown before a sellout crowd of 55,311 at Dodger Stadium.

Beltre ignited celebrations throughout the largest crowd in stadium history when he connected on Rod Beck’s one-out, first-pitch breaking ball, hitting his team-leading 26th homer to give the NL West leaders a victory over the second-place Padres in the opener of a three-game series.

“I love that kind of situation where the game is on the line,” said Beltre, also leading the Dodgers with a .325 batting average and 66 runs batted in.

“When the game is on the line, I want to be the hero. This is what I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to help this team get into the playoffs.”

In what has become a familiar scene this season, the Dodgers celebrated in the dugout as Beltre slowly circled the bases, hoping to avoid aggravating his injured right thigh and left ankle.

The Dodgers mobbed Beltre at the plate after he hit their first walk-off homer of the season and their first since he accomplished the feat last Aug. 20 against the Montreal Expos.

Beltre’s big blow helped the Dodgers (56-39) open a 3 1/2-game lead on San Diego and San Francisco. The Dodgers have won 16 of 18 and 19 of 23, and teammates said Beltre has been the key to their surge to the top.

“It’s one thing to hit home runs when they’re meaningless -- he’s hitting balls that are winning games,” catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “He should have been in the All-Star game.”

Said first baseman Shawn Green: “Belly has been the MVP of this team all season. The type of year he’s having ... he’s just been incredible.”

Eric Gagne (3-0) has been pretty good too.

Gagne gave up a two-out single to Sean Burroughs, who had led off the game with his second homer, in the ninth after relieving starter Jose Lima, but struck out Mark Loretta to preserve a 2-2 tie.

Lima also had an impressive eight-inning outing, his fourth consecutive quality start.

Lo Duca flied out against Beck (0-2) to start the bottom of the ninth. Then Beltre ended things quickly.

“The last time I faced him, he threw me a lot of breaking balls early, so that’s what I was expecting,” Beltre said. “It’s a great feeling to get the first one.”

The Dodgers rallied again to take the opener against San Diego (53-43). They tied the score, 2-2, in the eighth on two Padre errors after chasing starter Brian Lawrence, who worked seven-plus strong innings.

After giving the Dodgers their first run in the second on back-to-back doubles, Juan Encarnacion and Alex Cora made things happen in the eighth, with some help from the Padres.

Encarnacion led off with a ground-rule double that bounced into the stands in the left-field corner. San Diego Manager Bruce Bochy removed Lawrence and brought in reliever Akinori Otsuka. Cora, whose double to right-center drove in Encarnacion in the second, laid down a sacrifice bunt and Otsuka, after fielding the ball on the third-base side of the mound, made a wild throw that enabled Encarnacion to tie the score at 2-2.

Cora advanced to second on the error and raced to third when the ball slipped out of right fielder Brian Giles’ grasp as he tried to get it back to the infield.

Robin Ventura pinch-hit for Lima and flied out to right, but third base coach Glenn Hoffman held Cora as Giles’ throw went well wide of the plate along the first-base line. With the infield in, the Dodgers failed to push across the go-ahead run as Cesar Izturis flied out to shallow center and Jayson Werth struck out.