Roger Arrieta
SAN DIEGO—One down, five more to go. The Dodgers checked off the first box on their 2020 “to do” list. Los Angeles scored six straight runs in the series finale against San Diego to take a 7-1 lead and rolled to a 7-5 victory to clinch their eighth straight playoff spot. The Dodgers are the first team in MLB to clinch a spot in the postseason. Next on the to-do list – win the National League West.
Los Angeles used five relievers to earn the series-clinching win over the second-place Padres. Will Smith, A.J. Pollock, Chris Taylor and Mookie Betts keyed the offense that put up a touchdown and outhit the Padres 8-6. Smith drove in three runs while Pollock and Taylor had solo home runs and Betts stole three bases for the second time in his career.
The victory gives the Dodgers a 35-15 record for the season which gets them into the 16-team tournament. LA is now 3.5 games ahead of San Diego in the NL West and trimmed its “magic number” to 6.0 to win their eighth consecutive division title.
GAME RECAP: The teams traded single runs in the second before the Dodgers rattled off six straight to take a 7-1 advantage. Pollock got the Dodgers on the board in the second when he went yard on a 2-0 sinker and blasted it next to the palm tree in center field. The 426-no doubter was Pollock’s 11th of the season. San Diego tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Jason Castro drove in Wil Myers with a 2-out double.
The LA 6-pack started with a pair of runs in the third, continued with a trio in the fifth and finished when Taylor bombed a pitch 426 feet into the second deck in left field in the sixth. The first five runs of the streak came with two outs in an inning. Max Muncy and Smith came through with clutch 2-out hits to plate the two runs in the third. With runners on first and second, Muncy lined a 3-2 sinker that landed a foot inside the left field line. Muncy’s double scored Corey Seager from second and advanced Justin Turner to third. Smith followed with a bit of baseball luck. He checked his swing on 1-2 curve ball and barely made contact. The ball dribbled 15 feet up the first base line and his “swinging bunt” scored Turner to push the Dodgers’ lead to 3-1. Smith started the 3-run fifth when he doubled into the left-center gap. The ball went all the way to the wall and allowed Betts to score from second and Turner, who was running very conservatively because of his recent hamstring injury, from first. Bellinger would tack on the extra point when he lined a single to left field that scored Smith and upped the total to 7-1.
San Diego made the game interesting in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Jurickson Profar hit a 2-run homer in the seventh and Manny Machado came through with a solo shot in the eighth to bring the score to 7-4. The ninth got a little dicey with Pedro Baez on the hill. Baez entered the game with one out and a man on first. He was able to get the second out of the inning when pinch hitter Francisco Mejía lined out to Taylor in left. Profar singled to left field which brought home Jorge Ona who reached when he was hit on the shin and took second on a defensive indifference steal. Trent Grisham stepped to the plate representing the tying run but proceeded to hit a slow roller to Bellinger at first who jogged to the bag to end the game and clinch the playoff spot.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
HE SAID IT: “It’ different. I just realized that about five minutes ago. We still have a lot of baseball to play. It’s the first step. It’s a good series to win. I’m proud of the guys.”—Dodgers manager Dave Roberts on the different setting of clinching a playoff spot in 2020.
KARMA IS A B**CH: Grisham finished off the series by going 1-for-8 (.125) after he over celebrated in the batter’s box when he hit a homer against future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw in Monday’s game. The best part of Wednesday’s game is that he made the final out of the series. Grisham also had a chance to break the game open in the second inning. He came to the plate with runners on second and third with two outs but hit another weak ground ball to first base.
A MLB RECORD SERIES STREAK: The win gives the Dodgers a 6-4 edge in the season series against the Padres. It is the 10th consecutive season that LA has won the season series over San Diego. That mark of 10 consecutive series wins is a new MLB record for consecutive season series wins over a divisional opponent.
SUCCINT SERIES STUFF: The Dodgers are now 12-1-4 in series this year.
I’LL TAKE THE FIFTH: The three runs in the fifth give LA a total of 43 runs scored in the fifth inning of games in 2020. That is the most runs for any inning for the Dodgers. They are outscoring their opponents 43-18 in the fifth.
OBSCURE STATS OF THE DAY: Los Angeles is now 14-3 in the final game of a series and 6-1 in games played on a Wednesday.
BULLISH ON BULLPEN GAMES: For the second time in four games, the Dodgers used a “bullpen” game to win the final contest of a series. On Sunday, they trotted out eight relievers and steamrolled the Asterisks 8-1. Wednesday’s win featured only five relievers but delivered the same outcome. The biggest reason that LA only needed five pitchers was because Dustin May ate up 5.1 frames. He entered at the start of the third and left with one out in the eighth. His final stat line read: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 6 K. He lowered his season ERA to 2.68.
Brusdar Graterol started the “bullpen” game for the second straight time. He allowed one run in 1.1 innings pitched and gave way to Adam Kolarek who had to work out of a second-and-third jam in the second. Kolarek ended up getting the victory and is now 3-0 on the year. Victor González and Baez finished off the game. González was charged with the run in the ninth after he came on with one out in the eighth and got the next three batters he faced before beaning Ona. Baez’ 2-out appearance earned him his second save of the season.
HE SAID IT 2: “He came out firing. He came out with good rhythm. His fastball was lively and he was pitching to all quadrants. A really good outing by Dustin.”—Roberts on the 5.0 inings pitched by Dustin May.
I’LL TAKE THAT, AND THAT AND THAT: Betts, who went 2-for-5 in the game, stole second base in the first, third and fifth innings. It was the second time in his career that he has swiped three bases in a single game. He becomes the first Dodgers’ player to steal three bases since Trayce Thompson accomplished the feat back in 2016. Betts now has a team-leading nine stolen bases. Bellinger was the only Dodger with more than nine stolen bases in 2019 when he led the team with 15 in 162 games. Betts is now hitting .306 on the year and is hitting .324 from the leadoff spot which is second best in the NL.
BIG WILLY STYLE OR SMITHTEMBER CONTINUES: Guess who leads the Dodgers in hitting after 50 games? Congrats if you put money down on Will Smith to hold that honor. Smith went 2-for-4 on Wednesday and is now hitting a spicy .310 for the year. It was Smith’s fourth multiple-hit game in the past five contests and his slash line in the last seven games reads .481/.517/.741. And how about the 10 games he has played in the month of September? That would be a .444 average (16-for-36) with a .512 OBA and a .722 slugging percentage. Smith has a 1.034 OPS in 2020 which leads MLB catchers and is seventh among all players with at least 80 at bats.
MR. 100: Pollock’s home run in the second inning was the 100th long ball of his career. He has had at least 11 yard shots in four straight seasons with his top homer production coming in 2018 when he left the year 21 times.
DODGERS DIG THE LONG BALL: The two long balls hit by LA adds to their MLB-leading total and marks the 25th time this year they have posted a multi-homer game. The Dodgers are 19-6 when they crank out at least two long balls in a game. They now have 93 long balls on the year which leads the majors by eight.
ON DECK: The Dodgers will have a happy flight to Denver as they try to inch closer to the NL West crown in a 4-game series in homer friendly Colorado. The Rox are 22-26 on the year and 2.0 games behind the Giants for the second wild card spot in the playoffs. LA is 4-2 against Colorado this year but lost their only series of the year against the Rox on Sept. 4-6. The pitching match-ups for the final three games are up in the air but the opener on Thursday will feature Julio Urías for the Dodgers and lefty Kyle Freeland for Colorado. Freeland pitched in the opener at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 4. He went 6.0 innings, gave up three earned runs, four hits and three walks and struck out six. Freeland is 2-1 with a 3.54 ERA this year but is 1-0 with a 4.22 ERA and a 1.469 WHIP in 32.0 innings pitched at Coors Field. Urías is coming off one of his best outings of the year when he went 6.0 innings, allowed only one run and three hits against Houston on Saturday. He faced the Rox on Sept. 6 and allowed four earned runs on five hits in 4.1 innings. Things get worse for Urías at Coors Field where he has a 7.71 ERA and a 1.959 WHIP in 16.1 innings pitched.
