San Diego @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 22, 2010 ) San Diego 3, LA Dodgers 1

Thursday night would be a good time for Mat Latos to recover his pitching form, particularly with the San Diego Padres back in first place and hoping to remain there.

The right-hander who has been so dominating most of the season has endured back-to-back horrid outings and looks to get back on track against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the finale of a three-game series.

Latos set a major-league record by allowing two or fewer runs in 15 consecutive starts but was pounded in his last two outings, allowing 13 runs and 16 hits in 5 1/3 innings while losing to the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.

The outing against St. Louis was dreadful as Latos gave up eight runs and nine hits in just 1 1/3 innings.

The Padres lead the National League West by a half-game over the San Francisco Giants entering Thursday’s contest and could use a big-time pitching performance from their 22-year-old ace.

Latos (14-7) has seen his earned-run average rise from 2.21 to 2.84 with the two subpar outings but has fared well against Los Angeles this season. He’s 1-1 with a 2.00 ERA in three starts with 23 strikeouts in 18 innings.

Latos was gaining momentum as a leading NL Cy Young Award candidate before the recent meltdown.

Hiroki Kuroda starts for the Dodgers and the right-hander deserves better than a 10-13 win-loss mark.

Kuroda has a tidy 2.71 ERA since the All-Star break but just a 3-6 record to show for it. He was 7-7 in the first half of the season when his ERA was 3.87.

Overall, Kuroda has a 3.36 ERA. He is 0-2 against the Padres this season with a 6.30 ERA.

Kuroda will be trying to prevent the Padres from sweeping the three-game series. San Diego won the opener 6-0 behind Clayton Richard’s first career shutout and then posted a 3-1 victory on Tuesday.

Padres closer Heath Bell converted his 30th consecutive save opportunity on Wednesday and has a career-high 43 saves on the campaign. Bell had 42 saves last season.

San Diego’s Miguel Tejada went 3-for-4 with a homer on Wednesday and is batting .378 (14-for-37) over his last nine games.

Tejada is just 1-for-11 (.091) against Kuroda.

Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier is just 1-for-10 against Latos but had two of Los Angeles’ three hits during Wednesday’s loss.

Los Angeles first baseman James Loney went 0-for-3 on Wednesday is batting just .143 (4-for-28) over his last seven games.