LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley allowed three runs in six innings, and all of them came on one bad pitch.
With two outs in the second, Billingsley served up a three-run homer to San Diego Padres pitcher Eric Stults and Los Angeles went on to lose 6-3 Monday night in the first game between the NL West rivals since their wild brawl last week.
The teams kept things clean on Jackie Robinson Day after Major League Baseball executive vice-president Joe Torre called both managers to remind them of the context of the game, the 66th anniversary of Robinson breaking baseball's colour barrier with the Dodgers.
"He didn't seem as sharp as the last game, but I thought Bills did a good job of battling and keeping himself in the game," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Obviously, with the pitcher up, he's going to challenge him. But we knew Stults is a pretty good hitter."
Stults is a former Dodgers pitcher, and he had homered in pregame batting practice.
"I was trying to go up and in, and the ball just kind of ran over the middle of the plate," Billingsley said. "I was pretty upset."
After that inning, Billingsley settled down and held the Padres scoreless while the Dodgers rallied to tie the game at 3. He gave up seven hits in six innings, struck out three and walked two.
"It was a great effort by him to keep it where it was," catcher A.J. Ellis said. "He's throwing the ball great and he's competing out there, which has always been his M.O."
The Dodgers had the potential tying runs on second and third with one out in the eighth. Pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker hit a comebacker to the mound and Luke Gregerson got the out at first before Yonder Alonso made a perfect throw to catcher John Baker for the tag on Ellis, completing the inning-ending double play.
"We're getting plenty of hits and plenty of guys on the bases, but we just haven't been effective once we get them out there," Mattingly said. "I've said it and I'll keep saying it: If we get that much traffic, we're going to score a bunch of runs."
San Diego slugger Carlos Quentin dropped his appeal and began serving an eight-game suspension Sunday for charging Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke after getting hit by a pitch Thursday night. Greinke broke his left collarbone in the fight that followed and is expected to miss eight weeks. Quentin will sit out the three-game series 鈥� and four more games after that.
"If he was playing, obviously things are escalated a little bit," Mattingly said.
Dodgers infielder Jerry Hairston Jr. was suspended one game for his role in the brawl.
"I don't think there was anything brewing before this game," Padres manager Bud Black said.
Pinch-hitter Jesus Guzman singled while batting for Stults during the decisive rally and scored on a double-play grounder by Alonso. That came after Paco Rodriguez relieved Ronald Belisario (0-2) with the bases loaded and walked pinch-hitter Chris Denorfia to force in the tiebreaking run after getting ahead 0-2 in the count.
Stults (2-1) allowed three runs and nine hits in six innings, struck out four and walked one. His home run was his first in the major leagues.
Huston Street pitched the ninth to earn his second save in just the Padres' third win in 13 games, including two against the Dodgers.
The Dodgers scored runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to tie the game 3-all. Adrian Gonzalez had a ground-rule double, and Carl Crawford and Ellis hit RBI singles.
The Padres extended their lead to 6-3 on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Kyle Blanks in the ninth.
Robinson's widow, Rachel, along with the couple's daughter, Sharon, and son, David, were introduced before the game, which drew a sellout crowd of 52,136.
Harrison Ford bounced a ceremonial first pitch to Mattingly. Ford plays Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey, who signed Robinson, in "42," the new movie about the baseball pioneer.
Former NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told the sellout crowd, "It's time for Dodger baseball."
Kelley Jakle, the great-granddaughter of Rickey, sang "God Bless America."
The stadium was decorated with "42" logos on the pitching mound, dugout, near the foul pole and baselines. The bases had special plaques noting Jackie Robinson Day and the date.
NOTES: Black said his daughter, Jamie, lives two blocks from Fenway Park. He couldn't get through to her after the Boston Marathon bombings because cellphone communication was affected, but she later texted him to say she was OK. ... There was a moment of silence for the Boston victims. ... The Dodgers placed RHP Shawn Tolleson on the 15-day disabled list with a lower back strain, retroactive to April 13, and recalled RHP Josh Wall from Triple-A Albuquerque. Wall had a 2.08 ERA with one save in four appearances for the Isotopes. ... Billingsley (13-9) has more wins against the Padres than any other team in his career.
