Dodgers pitchers struggle, issuing 14 walks in series-dropping loss to Padres

Evan Fournier

Dodgers reliever J.P. Feyereisen stares out of the dugout after giving up a three-run double to San Diego’s Jurickson Profar in the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ 6-3 loss Sunday at Dodger Stadium. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

For so-called superteams like the Dodgers included, there is a universal kryptonite from which even a $300-million payroll isn’t immune.

Walks.

In a 6-3 loss to the San Diego Padres on Sunday, the Dodgers issued 14 of them, shooting themselves in the foot again and again and again to drop a three-game weekend series at Chavez Ravine.

Free passes hadn’t exactly been an issue for the Dodgers this season. Entering Sunday, they had the 11th-lowest walk rate in the majors.

But between James Paxton’s wild command (he walked eight in five-plus innings) and more shaky performances from the underbelly of a worn-out bullpen (culminating with a tiebreaking three-spot against J.P. Feyereisen in the seventh inning), the team’s fifth loss in its last nine games felt entirely of its own making.

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Not since 1962 had a Dodgers pitching staff walked so many batters in a single game.

And before he began his postgame news conference, manager Dave Roberts couldn’t help but huff a deep sigh of apparent frustration.

“It’s hard to win a baseball game when
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