Jeff Birney
The Dodgers bested the Rockies handily in the tie-breaking game 163 at Dodgers Stadium Monday night, once again taking the NL West division – the sixth year in a row.
Walker Buehler pitched a solid outing, going 6 2/3 innings, the first 5 1/3 of which were hitless. Not only did Buehler keep the game scoreless while on the mound, he swatted an RBI single to get the Dodgers up 5-0 in the sixth.
The only “uh-oh” moments came in the ninth, as Kenley Jansen came in the shut the Rockies down. Jansen immediately gave up back to back homeruns to Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story to get the only Rockies runs. Jansen settled in though and set the final three Rox batters down on 2 strikeouts and a groundout.
The Dodgers last played a tiebreaker in 1980, losing to the then NL West Houston Astros.
The Dodgers face the Atlanta Braves at home Thursday for the first game of the NLDS. Time and pitchers have yet to be officially announced, yet likely starters for games 1 and 2 are Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu.
Go DODGERS!
