LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers came into the four-game series against the Padres looking to create separation atop the National League West.

Los Angeles entered the series with a five-game lead over the Padres. A sweep, or even a series win, would have been a big body blow to its budding rival.

Instead, the Dodgers have lost the first two games of the series, including a 6-1 loss to the Padres on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. The best the Dodgers can do now is secure a series split with wins on Saturday and Sunday.

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In order for them to accomplish that, they’re going to have to find their offense, which has gone missing over the last week. 

After starting the season 12-2, the Dodgers are 2-4 over their past six games. Offensive struggles are the root of most of their recent issues. With one run on Friday, the Dodgers have scored just 11 runs over their last six games.

The Dodgers have 23 hits over their past six games, their fewest total in a six-game span since September 1909, per ESPN Stats and Info.

Clayton Kershaw tossed his fourth consecutive quality start on Friday, allowing three runs and striking out seven over seven innings, but he took his second loss of the year as the Dodgers got a lone run off Padres starter Yu Darvish over seven innings.

“I just think that we just have to find a way to create baserunners and keep putting ourselves in positions to drive runs in,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “We do that, we’ll start scoring more. It’s just one hit at a time. We just have to, collectively, keep taking good at-bats.”

Let’s take a closer look at why the Dodgers’ offense has struggled over the past six games:

Slow starts
A big reason for the Dodgers’ hot start to the season was the fact that the offense was jumping on opposing pitchers early and kept its foot on the gas pedal throughout the game. In the first 14 games, the Dodgers had a slash line of .320/.424/.544 in the first three innings of games. All three of those stats led the Majors. 

Since then, that production has been cut in about half. Since April 17, the Dodgers have a .159/.274/.317 slash line in the first three frames.

Strikeouts are up
From top to bottom, the Dodgers have one of the deepest lineups in baseball. But recently, the Dodgers have been striking out at a much higher clip than they’re accustomed to. 

In the first 14 games, the Dodgers were doing a solid job of putting the ball in play, striking out just 20.7% of the time. In the past six games, that number has ballooned to 31.1%. That includes 11 strikeouts recorded by Padres pitching on Friday. 

“We’re scuffling a little bit at the plate right now,” said Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes. “We just need to have some quality at-bats, pass it down the line. Yu [Darvish] was pretty good today, and we’ve faced some tough pitching. But we’re a tough lineup, too. We’ll get back on track.”

Who will step up?
The Dodgers are without Cody Bellinger, Gavin Lux and Zach McKinstry -- who are all on the injured list -- and were without Chris Taylor for the second consecutive night as he nurses a back injury.

Still, the Dodgers have plenty of firepower in Justin Turner, Corey Seager, Will Smith, Mookie Betts and Max Muncy. Slumps will happen throughout the course of a 162-game season. The issue for the Dodgers is that they have most of their players going through one at the same time.

Production over the past six games:

Betts: 4-for-18
Muncy: 1-for-17
AJ Pollock: 2-for-17
Seager: 2-for-24
Smith: 2-for-14
Turner: 3-for-19

That doesn’t resemble the Dodgers offense that is touted as the best in the game. With Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove on the mound the next two days, the Dodgers will have to figure it out quickly, or they’ll lose a series for the first time in 2021.

“They’ve outhit us and they’ve outpitched us,” Roberts said. “They’ve won the first two games. We have [Trevor] Bauer going [Saturday] and a bullpen that’s in good shape. All we can do is focus on winning a baseball game [Saturday].”