On a night the Dodgers had a stadium-wide giveaway promotion for the anime show Demon Slayer , the club slayed a few recently troublesome demons of its own.

In the opening game of this season’s biggest series to date, they finally found a way not to trip over themselves.

By beating the San Diego Padres 3-2 at Dodger Stadium, the club moved back into a tie with the Padres for first place in the National League West.

They got six strong innings from Clayton Kershaw ; plus, in a refreshing change of pace, plenty of crisp, clean defense behind him.

And though a lineup that lost Max Muncy to the injured list with an oblique strain before the game was largely contained by the Padres (who had to go with a bullpen game after scheduled starter Michael King was shelved with a shoulde

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