"Trying to coax a 26th consecutive shutout inning out of Dodgers pitcher Chad Billingsley was pushing it.

The San Diego Padres scored three runs in the fourth inning of Thursday night's game at Dodger Stadium and rode them to a 5-0 victory over the Dodgers.

The Padres reclaimed their eight- game lead over the Dodgers in the Western Division standings, which is the lead they had when they arrived in town Monday. The problem for the Dodgers is that they now have four fewer games in which to play catch-up.

Billingsley went into the game on a roll. He hadn't allowed an earned run since July 16, the Dodgers' first series following the All-Star break. He allowed seven runs in four innings of that game and has been virtually untouchable since. In his last three starts (two against San Francisco and one against the Padres), Billingsley threw a combined 21 2/3 shutout innings.

He stretched his shutout streak to a career-high 25 innings before Chase Headley scored Adrian Gonzalez from second base with a one-out single in the fourth inning.

The Padres piled it on after that, adding run-scoring singles from Yorvit Torrealba and Tony Gwynn.

The Dodgers' offense, which scored nine runs on 12 hits in Wednesday night's thrashing of the Padres, reverted to its old ways by allowing Padres pitcher Kevin Correia to take control. Correia entered the game with a 7-7 record and 5.06 ERA, and he was 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA against the Dodgers this season.

Correia's first troublesome inning was the fourth, when the Dodgers had runners at first and second with one out. James Loney hit a fly ball to deep right field, but Ryan Ludwick made the catch in front of the wall, and Matt Kemp ended the inning with a fly ball to center field.

Correia was taken out of the game with two outs in the sixth inning, leaving runners at first and third, and Joe Thatcher came in and got Loney to fly out to center. "