Chris Taylor’s glove helps Dodgers blank Padres

LOS ANGELES ― Not long ago, you could hold up Chris Taylor’s season at just the right angle and see the Most Valuable Player of the Dodgers, if not the entire National League.

Much can change in little more than a month. Since Aug. 2, Taylor’s on-base plus slugging percentage has fallen nearly 100 points. He’s routinely batted sixth or seventh in the batting order. As the bottom of the Dodgers’ lineup fell on hard times, Taylor’s bat was more often part of the problem than the solution.

All the Dodgers needed Friday was Taylor’s glove.

Taylor prevented Manny Machado from hitting a two-run home run with a leaping catch in center field in the fifth inning. In the fourth inning, Taylor dove to catch a Wil Myers fly ball in the left-center field gap. In the bottom of the fourth, Taylor drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, completing the scoring in a 3-0 victory over the San Diego Padres.

A two-run home run by Max Muncy got the Dodgers on the board in the third inning against Joe Musgrove. Taylor’s best efforts helped Julio Urías (17-3), Blake Treinen and Kenley Jansen combine on the Dodgers’ 16th shutout of the season.

The Dodgers (89-53) snapped a two-game losing streak and kept pace with the first-place San Francisco Giants (91-50), who have won five games in a row to extend their lead in the National League West to 2½ games.

The Padres (74-66) have become a specter in the playoff picture. They have lost four consecutive games to the Dodgers, all since the All-Star break, after winning the previous four head-to-head contests.

Urías became the first MLB pitcher to 17 wins by limiting San Diego to three hits in seven innings. He hit two batters and issued one walk while striking out seven. His ERA fell to 2.98.

On his 94th pitch of the evening, Urías got pinch hitter Tommy Pham to fly out to center field to end the seventh inning. It was the deepest Urías had pitched into a game since July 21.

Jansen’s save was his 10th in a row and his 31st overall, tied for second in the NL.

The Dodgers collected only four hits to the Padres’ three, but they made them count. Mookie Betts singled off Musgrove just before Muncy pummeled a 91-mph cutter at the belt 428 feet to right field.

In the fourth inning, Will Smith doubled and went to third base on a wild pitch by Musgrove. Taylor’s high-arcing fly ball to left field was deep enough for Smith to tag up and score with relative ease.

Taylor’s 72 RBIs this season trail only Muncy and Justin Turner among the team leaders.

More to come on this story.