Padres’ Peavy is hard on L.A.

SAN DIEGO -- The Dodgers called up two of their top prospects before Saturday night’s game, a move Manager Grady Little suggested was mostly a reward for a summer’s worth of hard work in the minors. As long as the team was in a playoff race, he said, the kids would sit and watch.

So that might have been a white flag in addition to a lineup card Little was waving when he sent infielder Chin-lung Hu and pitcher Jonathan Meloan into the game in the seventh inning of Saturday’s 7-0 loss to the San Diego Padres. Because although the Dodgers aren’t mathematically out of the race yet, it would take some creative accounting to make a case they’re still in it.

With the loss, which wasn’t nearly as close as the one-sided score would indicate, the Dodgers fell a season-high five games back in the National League wild-card race and an equal number back in the NL West standings with 27 games to play. To make that up, the Dodgers would have to win 19 of those final 27 games while hoping the Diamondbacks and Padres both play under .500 the rest of the way.

That’s a pretty tall order for a team that is 17-25 since July 16 and hasn’t won more than 16 games in a month all season. And between them Arizona and San Diego have had one losing month this year.

But while the Dodgers may be running out of time, they’re not yet out of hope.

“You never know what can happen,” outfielder Andre Ethier said. “Until we’re mathematically eliminated, when there’s no possible chance and that glimmer of hope goes out . . . you have to keep going out there and play hard.”

Added Little: “We’ve got to keep plugging. We’ve got a month left to play.”

To make that month matter, however, they’re going to have to play better than they’ve played in San Diego this weekend.

“If you’re not executing and you’re not making things happen positively for yourself, you’re going to have a tough battle out there,” Little said. “This is a big series and we’re not performing as good as they are. We were talking earlier about how many games we’re going to need to win to win this division. Tonight we did not help ourselves.”

Padres’ starter Jake Peavy didn’t help them either. The league leader in wins (16), earned-run average (2.10) and strikeouts (206), Peavy was close to unhittable, giving up a double and an opposite-field single to Juan Pierre but nothing to the rest of the Dodgers lineup in seven innings in which he struck out nine to earn his seventh win in a row.

Peavy (16-5) got the only run he would need in the second inning when Adrian Gonzalez homered on the first pitch from starter Derek Lowe. But just to be sure, the Padres added six runs in the fifth inning, the first scoring on Shea Hillenbrand’s throwing error and the next four on Mark Cameron’s two-strike grand slam, which just got over the fence in the left-field corner.

After surrendering the homer, the fifth he has given up in 9 2/3 innings, Lowe squatted, head down, on the grass behind the mound for several moments. And when Russell Martin came out to try to calm him down three pitches later, Lowe turned his back on his catcher, who patted the pitcher on the back and went back behind the plate.

One hitter later Lowe was gone, having given up seven runs in 4 1/3 innings to drop to 11-12 while his season ERA grew by nearly a quarter-run to 3.78.

“That ballclub in this series here is the best Padre club we’ve faced in any series this year,” Little said. “And to come in half-stepping, not executing plays, not executing pitches, you’re going to have a tough time.”

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com