Miller's 1st career error proves costly in loss -- his 1st as a Padre

SAN DIEGO -- The way Mason Miller has pitched since his arrival in San Diego, you figured it might take something strange for him to ever lose.

You weren’t wrong.

All it took for Miller to be saddled with his first loss as a Padre was … the first error of his career -- a costly throwing error in the ninth inning of San Diego’s 5-4 loss to the Dodgers at Petco Park on Tuesday night.

For the second consecutive night, the two NL West rivals engaged in a thriller that was decided with Miller on the mound in the ninth. Only this time, he came out on the losing end.

“Not a feeling that I'm used to having, I guess,” Miller said. “But it's pretty cut and dry: Bad throw, and you see the consequences.”

• Key takeaways: Dodgers 5, Padres 4

With one out in the frame, Miller walked Max Muncy (who was initially rung up, but challenged the ruling on Miller’s 3-2 slider). Dodgers manager Dave Roberts then used Alex Call to pinch-run for Muncy.

On an 0-1 count, Call broke for second base, then stopped. Miller stepped off the rubber and had Call caught in no-man’s land. And then …

“I just let it speed up on me a little bit and yanked it,” Miller said. “I probably threw it a little harder than I should've, too. Obviously I want it back. But it is what it is.”

The throw caromed off the glove of first baseman Ty France and down the right-field line. Call sped all the way to third base. He would score the game’s decisive run on Andy Pages’ sacrifice fly, after a feisty nine-pitch battle.

“Alex took a chance, and we got a break there,” said Roberts. “But it was good that we got a break, and we took advantage of it.”

There’s a case to be made that it shouldn’t have been Miller’s error at all -- that France could have at least caught the ball, then probably still been able to tag Call in time for the out. In fact, France himself made that case.

“I mean, it hit off my glove,” he said. “Maybe it cut a little bit. But I’ve got to catch that.”

One way or another, it was an error -- and a costly one at an inopportune moment, sending the Dodgers back above San Diego into first place. After his battle with Pages, Miller would be lifted with two outs, as the Padres continue to monitor his workload -- which has begun to pile up recently.

A night earlier, Miller worked around consecutive walks to retire the final three Dodgers hitters he faced, sealing a tense, 1-0 victory. He cited a mechanical adjustment.

“It's the little things,” Miller said. “The little things win games. They also lose games, too. We saw that tonight.”