Dodgers still the bottom line after loss to Padres, 6-2

The Dodgers were oh so close to climbing out of last place.

Clayton Kershaw was on the mound. Yasiel Puig was in the lineup. They were facing the San Diego Padres, whom they beat the previous two nights.

But Kershaw made his shortest start in six weeks, Puig went hitless and the Dodgers reverted to the form that has come to define their depressing season, falling to the Padres, 6-2, at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night.

BOX SCORE: San Diego 6, Dodgers 2

As a result, the Dodgers remained at the bottom of the National League West, now 1 1/2 games behind the fourth-place Padres, who have a payroll that is about a third of theirs.

“These guys battled him,” Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said of the Padres against Kershaw. “They’re the team that gives him trouble. They seem to run him through pitches. They foul off pitches. They seem to keep fighting and scrapping against him.”

The Dodgers’ offense looked like it did on most nights before Puig’s promotion from double A on Monday, as visiting starter Jason Marquis had a no-hitter through five innings. The only Dodgers to reach base in that span were Andre Ethier and Scott Van Slyke, who drew consecutive walks in the fifth inning.

By then, the Dodgers had spotted the Padres a couple of runs.

A second-inning throwing error by shortstop Hanley Ramirez essentially turned an infield single by Jesus Guzman into a double, which allowed Guzman to score on a single by Yasmani Grandal to put the Padres ahead, 1-0.

The Padres got their second run in the fourth inning on a home run by Jedd Gyorko and extended their lead to 3-0 before the Dodgers got their first hit, as Guzman doubled in Gyorko in the sixth. Mattingly visited Kershaw on the mound later that inning with two outs, men on second and third, and his pitch count already at 113. Kershaw remained in the game and struck out Chris Denorfia, but his night was over.

Kershaw (5-4) was charged with two earned runs, seven hits and three walks. The last time he pitched fewer than seven complete innings was April 23 against the Mets in New York, when he lasted only five innings.

“I was throwing a lot of pitches. You have to give them credit,” Kershaw said of the Padres. “They battled. You have to tip your cap to them. They’re not going to be easy outs.”

With two out in the bottom of the sixth, Skip Schumaker broke up Marquis’ no-hitter with a double. He scored on a sharply hit single by Adrian Gonzalez that skipped off the glove of second baseman Gyorko and made its way into right field. The run batted in was the team-leading 43rd for Gonzalez.

The Dodgers would further reduce the deficit to 3-2 in the seventh inning, when Van Slyke crushed a pitch from Marquis into the left-field pavilion.

But the Padres put the game away in the ninth, scoring three times.

Asked how Kershaw could be 5-4 despite a 1.93 earned-run average, Mattingly said: “It means we’re not putting up any runs.”

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

Twitter: @dylanohernandez