With his team in a bad streak and showing "flat tires" facing a crucial series against their most dangerous rival, manager Dave Roberts put his hopes in the arm of his living legend and then used everything he had in his bullpen. The objective was achieved.

Clayton Kershaw pitched six nearly flawless innings and five relievers combined for the rest of the game, with Roberts recalling his fine pitching maneuvers from last October, as the Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Friday night in Los Angeles.

The Dodgers, who two nights earlier fell out of first place in the division when they were swept by the Angels in Anaheim and who had lost four straight games in which they held the lead, tied the Padres atop the West with a 69-53 record.

Clayton Kershaw, the “right pitcher” for the Dodgers

Kershaw pitched brilliantly as he has been doing all season. The 37-year-old left-hander gave his team exactly what it needed to dig itself out of its hole: 6 innings with just 2 hits, 1 run, 3 strikeouts and 1 walk.

"We had the right pitcher on the mound today," Roberts said after the game, evaluating Kershaw's performance, who improved to 7-2 on the season.

The only damage the Padres did to Kershaw was Ramon Laureano's solo home run in the second inning, a shot that crashed off the left-field foul pole to open the scoring.

But Los Angeles turned it around in the third inning. The bases loaded with no outs against Randy Vasquez and Shohei Ohtani tied the game with a ground out to second base. Mookie Betts then hit a sacrifice fly to center to drive in the 2-1.

Teoscar Hernandez sparks big home run

The Dodgers' lead increased in the seventh when Teoscar Hernandez, another of the hitters who has been mostly subdued, He opened the scoring with a home run to center field for a 3-1 lead off Mexican-American pitcher Jeremiah Estrada. It was the Dominican slugger's 19th of the year and gave his team a lifeline in the game. San Diego mounted an eighth-inning rally against Alex Vesia, who hit two batters. The bases were loaded with one out on a walk to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Venezuelan Luis Arraez drove in the 3-2 with a sacrifice fly to left.

Then manager Roberts sent his star reliever Blake Treinen to face the always dangerous Manny Machado with two men on and he dominated him with a single fly ball to the infield.

Dave Roberts was methodical with his relief pitchers.

Surprisingly, Roberts decided to retire Treinen after a single throw and give the ball to Alexis Diaz for the ninth inning.

The Puerto Rican right-hander got two outs and allowed one hit, but the younger brother of star closer Edwin Diaz was also relieved by his manager, who brought in the mound to young Jack Dreyer to face fellow left-hander Ryan O'Hearn, whom he dominated with a fly ball to center for the save and to stop the losing streak of the reigning Major League champions.

The heated series for the West Division lead will continue this Saturday at 6:10 pm with the duel between Blake Snell for the Dodgers and Dylan Cease for the Padres.