LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers were clicking on offense until they ran into a familiar stumbling block: Adam Eaton.
The San Diego right-hander allowed one hit in seven innings, Phil Nevin and Brian Giles homered, and the Padres beat the Dodgers 3-0 on Sunday to avert a three-game sweep by the NL West leaders.
The loss was only the third in 20 games for the Dodgers, who had won 11 of their previous 15 meetings with the Padres. Los Angeles leads San Diego and San Francisco by 3½ games.
"They've been hot for the past month, and that's hard to do at this level," said Eaton, who restored order after Saturday night's 12-2 loss.
"They were feeling good after last night, so I could have put some money down that they were going to have a letdown today," Eaton said. "Each game is different and each game is going to have a different story. Last night was done after the final out, and we came back ready to play today."
Eaton (6-8) allowed only a scratch single by Alex Cora, struck out three and issued leadoff walks in the sixth and seventh. He improved to 6-1 lifetime against the Dodgers with a 1.96 ERA.
"With the lineup they're throwing out there in a daily basis, if you feel comfortable against them, you're going to get hurt. So I just wanted to get ahead of them early and make good pitches when I needed to," Eaton said after winning his fourth straight road start.
"They were aggressive early in the count, but I was able to make quality pitches to get them out. I felt like I was on top of my game."
Eaton -- who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against Kansas City on July 3 -- retired his first 10 batters. But Cora's fourth-inning grounder deflected off the tip of third baseman Sean Burroughs' glove as he dived for the ball, then skipped behind shortstop Khalil Greene for a hit with one out in the fourth.
Eaton, who has made it back from Tommy John surgery, has allowed three earned runs and 11 hits over 22 innings in his three starts against the Dodgers this season.
"He's always pitched good against us, but we didn't think about that before the game," said Adrian Beltre, who popped out, fouled out and grounded into a double play in his three at-bats after entering with a team-high .330 average, 71 RBI and a career-high 27 home runs.
"He really had it going today," Beltre said. "He was painting his fastball away, he had a lot of movement on it and he was sneaky. He was throwing every pitch on the black and he obviously didn't make many mistakes, because we got only one hit against him."
Akinori Otsuka pitched a perfect eighth, and Trevor Hoffman gave up Cesar Izturis' double in the ninth before earning his 26th save in 29 attempts and completing the two-hitter.
Hoffman needs 12 saves to move into a tie for third place on the career list with Dennis Eckersley, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Jeff Weaver (7-10) allowed two runs and six hits over seven innings with five strikeouts and a walk. The right-hander is 0-2 in three starts this season against the Padres.
"It was a tough loss, considering that it was San Diego and that we had a chance to really separate us from them," Weaver said. "But Eaton's tough against us and he was on his game today. Sometimes it only takes one inning or one pitch to make a difference, and that's what happened."
Nevin led off the second with his 15th homer, and first since July 2, driving a 1-1 slider into the pavilion seats in left-center field. It was his 136th homer with the Padres, moving him past Tony Gwynn into third place on the team's career list behind Nate Colbert (163) and Dave Winfield (154).
Dodgers left fielder Dave Roberts sat out because of a strained neck, which happened while he was swinging in the indoor batting cage Saturday. Jason Grabowski started in his place and misplayed Greene's sinking liner into a triple with a last-ditch dive. Humberto Quintero's grounder drove in Greene with the Padres' second run.
Giles led off the ninth against Tom Martin with his 15th homer. Giles, who entered this season with a .302 career average against the Dodgers, was 3-for-32 against them this year before hitting a ground-rule double in the sixth.
Notes
Eaton, who threw 100 pitches, hasn't
had a complete game since beating the Dodgers 6-1 on June 24, 2001, at
Chavez Ravine. ... The Padres finished their road swing 7-3, tying the
club record for most wins during a 10-game trip. They begin a
season-high 13-game homestand Monday night against the Giants.
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