ANAHEIM, Calif. — It was only six weeks ago, on July 3, that the Los Angeles Dodgers held a nine-game lead in the National League West, with their 12th division title in 13 years seen as a foregone conclusion. They have since won only 12 of 33 games.

Now, after being swept by the neighboring Los Angeles Angels, the Dodgers find themselves trailing the San Diego Padres — the team they will host for a highly anticipated series this weekend — by one game.

“Obviously, it doesn’t feel good to fall into second place and to lose a lot of these games,” said Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, after a 6-5 loss at Angel Stadium on Wednesday night. “We’re doing everything in our power, having close meetings, doing everything that we can to try to right the ship. We just have to do a better job.”

Ohtani led off Wednesday’s game with a triple, igniting a three-run first inning, then took the mound with his sights set on completing five innings for the first time since coming back from a second repair of an ulnar collateral ligament. Ohtani held a 5-2 lead entering the bottom of the fifth and struck out Luis Rengifo. But the Angels countered with three consecutive one-out hits, trimming their deficit to one and forcing Ohtani to exit after a season-high 80 pitches.

A bullpen that has as many as six high-leverage relievers on the injured list at the moment proceeded to give up a lead for the second straight night, this time courtesy of a bases-loaded, two-run single from Logan O’Hoppe in the eighth inning. And a Dodgers offense that has put up only a .661 OPS since Independence Day, seventh worst in the majors, couldn’t make up for it.

The Dodgers lost all six meetings against the Angels this season and now find themselves in the midst of a four-game skid. They have fallen out of first place in the NL West for the first time since April 27.

“I think we’re constantly giving ourselves chances to win,” Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said. “Right now, that’s what we can ask for. Obviously, we’d love to win all these games, but it just wasn’t in the cards, so we’ve just got to turn the page and get ready for San Diego.”

When the Padres arrive at Dodger Stadium on Friday, it will mark the latest in a season they have held sole possession of first place in the NL West since Sept. 25, 2010, according to ESPN Research. The Padres are on a five-game winning streak, buoyed by the recent health of their starting rotation and emboldened by the trade-deadline moves of their aggressive general manager, A.J. Preller, who landed a standout closer (Mason Miller), a starting catcher (Freddy Fermin) and two impact bats (Ryan O’Hearn and Ramon Laureano) on July 31.

The last time the Dodgers and Padres faced off, eight batters were hit over the course of four games, including both Ohtani and Fernando Tatis Jr. on back-to-back nights. The finale was marked by a benches-clearing incident in which Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Padres manager Mike Shildt nearly came to blows.

Betts, though, tried to downplay the urgency of the upcoming series, which will be followed by three more games Aug. 22-24 in San Diego.

“It’s big,” he said, “but it kind of is what it is. We can’t make it more than what it is. It’s another series in August. Obviously, we all know it’s big and X, Y and Z, but we can’t make it that way. We have to just look at it as the same game as today and play our game and not try to get too high or too low.”

Wednesday’s outing marked the first time Ohtani pitched as an opponent at Angel Stadium and the first time he faced Mike Trout since striking him out to solidify a championship in the 2023 World Baseball Classic for Team Japan. Ohtani struck Trout out looking both times Wednesday — first with a backdoor sweeper then with a 101 mph fastball on the outside corner — and later called Angel Stadium “one of my favorite stadiums to play in.”

Ohtani’s start was clouded by more controversy, occurring two days after news surfaced that he and his agent, CAA’s Nez Balelo, are being sued by a Hawaii real estate investor and broker claiming they got them fired from a $240 million luxury-housing development that Ohtani had been brought in to endorse.

Asked whether the lawsuit had been a distraction, Ohtani said: “I’m focused on what the team is doing and doing everything in my power to make sure we bring a W on the field.”