San Diego (77-70) at Los Angeles (78-70)

The San Diego Padres look to take over first place in the NL West when they send Chris Young to the mound to face the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

San Diego (77-70) evened the four-game series at a game apiece by routing Los Angeles (78-70) 11-2 on Saturday. The Padres moved within one-half game of the first-place Dodgers and also remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Philadelphia for the wild-card lead.

Young (10-5, 3.77 ERA) is unbeaten in his last 22 road starts, including all 13 this year with San Diego. He’s 9-0 with a 3.32 ERA on the road since he lost at the Los Angeles Angels on June 20, 2005, while pitching for Texas.

The 6-foot-10 right-hander kept his road streak intact Tuesday when he allowed two runs over five innings but did not receive a decision in a 5-4, 11-inning loss at Cincinnati. It’s the longest such streak in the majors since Greg Maddux went 22 straight starts without a loss away from home in 1997-98.

Young is 0-1 with a 3.33 ERA in four starts against the Dodgers this year.

Los Angeles regulars Rafael Furcal, Nomar Garciaparra and J.D. Drew are a combined 5-for-32 against Young in the four meetings.

San Diego used three two-run homers in an eight-run third inning to take control Saturday. Mike Cameron, Todd Walker and Adrian Gonzalez all connected for the Padres after the trio went hitless (0-for-7 with three walks) in a 3-1 loss in the series opener Friday.

“You lose the first one and it puts a little more pressure on you,” Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. “So to come back and play the way we did was huge. The club’s been resilient all year and they showed it again.”

San Diego finished with 13 hits one night after Greg Maddux and two relievers combined on a two-hitter.

“For a moment, it looked like a driving range out there,” Los Angeles manager Grady Little said. “You gotta laugh to keep from crying. But nobody got hurt and we’ll be out there again tomorrow.”

The Dodgers fell to 4-12 against the Padres and their offense has struggled all year in the series. San Diego has a 2.90 ERA against Los Angeles, including a 1.89 ERA in the last seven meetings.

Garciaparra missed the loss with a strained left quadriceps suffered in Friday’s victory and is listed as day-to-day.

“I don’t think it’s real serious, but we have to make sure he can move before he can play,” Little said.

Garciaparra is 9-for-46 this year against San Diego. Drew is even worse at 6-for-47 with 13 strikeouts.

Padres reliever Cla Meredith enters with a scoreless streak of 33 2-3 innings—the longest in the majors since Pedro Martinez pitched 35 consecutive scoreless innings for Boston in 2002.

Los Angeles starter Derek Lowe (14-8, 3.77) is 5-0 with a 2.50 ERA over his last seven appearances. He endured his poorest outing of that stretch Tuesday, when he allowed five runs and 10 hits over five innings in a 9-8, 11-inning loss at the Chicago Cubs.

“I really let them back in the game,” said Lowe, who had been staked to a 7-0 lead. “I couldn’t put a stop to the inning. With a 7-0 lead, you’ve got all the momentum.”

The right-hander has no decisions and a 2.13 ERA in two starts against the Padres this year.

“We’ve got our hands full tomorrow against Derek Lowe, because he’s always tough,” San Diego left fielder Dave Roberts said after Saturday’s victory.