LOS ANGELES — Long before Tyler Glasnow was tightening the screws on the San Diego Padres on Thursday night, the Dodgers’ path to a third consecutive World Series title had been shortened.
Read more High school football: Scores from Thursday’s Week 5 games
If earning a bye into a National League Division Series matchup, while avoiding the best-of-three wild-card round, was the lone objective, Glasnow never let it show.
Even as the Dodgers dropped a 4-2 decision to the San Diego Padres, who clinched a wild-card playoff berth, at least two objectives were secured.
Shortly after the first pitch was thrown on Thursday, the Dodgers clinched a top-two spot in the National League to earn their bye. That honor came gift wrapped by the Cincinnati Reds, who rallied for a 7-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
The Dodgers also saw that Glasnow is more than ready to assume one of the team’s four spots in the playoff rotation along with Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell, who is expected to pitch this weekend in San Francisco after a recent bout with groin discomfort.
Glasnow did all he could to stop a champagne party in the visiting clubhouse. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and was ultimately charged with three runs over 6-1/3 innings after two of his base runners inherited by left-hander Justin Wrobleski scored.
Glasnow added a season high 11 strikeouts, which topped his 10-strikeout performance last week against the San Francisco Giants.
The Padres’ first hit came on a single to center from 20-year-old rookie catcher Ethan Salas with one out in the sixth. Fernando Tatis Jr. followed with a single and Dustin Harris added a sacrifice fly to center field for a 1-0 lead.
In the seventh, San Diego received a double from Jackson Merrill and a walk from Xander Bogaerts with one out. Glasnow gave way to Wrobleski, who gave up RBI singles to Austin Hays, Salas and Tatis.
Read more Nneka Ogwumike’s WNBA career ends with Sparks’ loss to Valkyries
Had they won Thursday, the Dodgers would have left for San Francisco with a slim chance at finishing with the best record in the National League and securing home-field advantage through the World Series.
The Milwaukee Brewers (100-59), who own the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Dodgers (97-62), had already secured their spot in a best-of-five NLDS and clinched the NL’s top seed with the franchise’s first 100-win regular season and the Dodgers’ loss.
San Diego hasn’t had a regular season in the class of the Brewers and Dodgers, but the Padres (89-70) are not done having their say. They have now clinched a playoff spot in three consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history and are currently lined up to potentially face the Dodgers in an NLDS.
Adding to their sense of accomplishment was the opportunity to celebrate a playoff berth on the Dodger Stadium infield.
After going 10-3 with Shohei Ohtani on the injured list, the Dodgers are now 0-2 since he returned from biceps discomfort. He returned to the leadoff spot for the first time since Sept. 7 after he batted second against a left-handed starter Wednesday.
Ohtani went 2 for 5 with a pair of fly balls to the base of the outfield wall and an RBI double with two outs in the ninth. He is now 3 for 9 in the two games of his return.
Mookie Betts dropped into the No. 2 spot for the first time in six games and had three hits.
The Dodgers scored their first run in the eighth when Betts scored on a balk by Adrian Morejon.
Read more Orange County scores and player stats for Thursday, Sept. 24
More to come on this story.