Dodgers complete sweep of Padres, face Braves in NLCS
ARLINGTON, Texas — Justin Turner and the Los Angeles Dodgers have completed the first step of what they hope is a long stay in the Lone Star State.
Turner put the Dodgers ahead with a record-breaking hit in a big inning fueled by a nice stop-gone-bad by Fernando Tatis Jr., and they closed out a three-game NL Division Series sweep of the San Diego Padres with an 12-3 win Thursday night.
“Records are cool, championships are better,” said Turner, who was part of the 2017 and 2018 National League championship teams that fell short in the World Series. “Until you’re the last team standing, that’s the ultimate goal.”
Will Smith set a Dodgers postseason record with five hits, and Joc Pederson had a two-run single to cap that decisive five-run third as Los Angeles advanced to its fourth NL Championship Series in five years. The Dodgers lost to the Washington Nationals in a fivegame division series last season.
After earning a spot in their 14th NLCS, to match the St. Louis Cardinals for the most, the Dodgers gathered for a team picture on the pitcher’s mound at the same ballpark where the NLCS and World Series will be played.
“We obviously feel really confident about our club, we’ve still got a lot to work to do though,” AJ Pollock said. “We did what we wanted to do, we did what we’re supposed to do. We’re going to celebrate that, but we expected it.”
Turner’s RBI single made it 3-2 and was his 64th career postseason hit, breaking a tie with Steve Garvey for the most in Dodgers postseason history.
That came right after Tatis, the 21-year-old budding superstar, made a diving play on Corey Seager’s hard grounder, but then tried to make a throw from his knee. The ball skipped along the dirt and past first baseman Eric Hosmer, allowing Mookie Betts to score the tying run.
After 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger was intentionally walked with two outs after already having a 2-0 count, Pollock drove home Turner with a single, and Pederson lined his single over the outstretched glove of third baseman Manny Machado to make it 6-2.
Smith delivered an RBI single in the fourth and a two-run double in the ninth off the 11th Padres pitcher — a postseason record. Betts, a day after his 28th birthday and signed for 12 more years, scored three times and had a sacrifice fly.
“Our offense was great. We had big plays, big moments from a lot of different guys throughout the series,” Pollock said.
Julio Urias, the third Dodgers pitcher, struck out six, walked one and allowed an unearned run over his five innings to get the win.
The Dodgers open the bestof-seven NLCS on Monday in the Texas Rangers’ new $1.2 billion stadium with a retractable roof. They face Atlanta with fans in attendance for the first time during this pandemic-altered season.
Meanwhile, Tatis, Machado and the Padres will have to wait until next season for another chance to overtake the NL West rival Dodgers.
“Their pitching staff over there was really good,” Padres rookie manager Jayce Tingler said. “We had a couple of opportunities to strike when we had some baserunners on. It seems like when we got to those positions, that’s when their guys beared down and made some pitches.”