ARLINGTON, Texas — Justin 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 Los Angeles closed out a three-game NL Division Series sweep of the San Diego Padres with an 12-3 win Thursday night.
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 five-game division series last season. It will be the Dodgers’ 14th NLCS, matching the St. Louis Cardinals for the most.
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, AJ 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.
ASTROS 11, ATHLETICS 6
LOS ANGELES — Carlos Correa hit a go-ahead, three-run homer after Michael Brantley’s two-run shot in the fourth inning, helping the Houston Astros beat the Oakland Athletics to win their home-run heavy AL Division Series in four games.
Correa drove in five as the Astros — October villains to many a year after their sign-stealing scandal was exposed — advanced to the AL Championship Series for the fourth consecutive season. It will be their first ALCS under Dusty Baker, their 71-year-old manager. Baker earned his first closeout win since the 2003 NL Division Series and improved to 4-13 in closeouts.
The Astros and A’s combined for 24 homers — 12 each — the most in a postseason series of five games or fewer.
YANKEES 5, RAYS 1
SAN DIEGO — Luke Voit and Gleyber Torres hit impressive home runs, Jordan Montgomery and three relievers combined on a three-hitter and New York beat Tampa Bay to force a deciding fifth game in their AL Division Series.
The Yankees bounced back from two straight losses against their AL East rivals to set up an expected showdown between aces Gerrit Cole of New York and Tyler Glasnow of Tampa Bay on Friday night.
BRAVES 7, MARLINS 0
HOUSTON— Rookie Kyle Wright dazzled for six innings in his postseason debut, and Atlanta rode its superb pitching to beat Miami for a three-game sweep and its first trip to the NL Championship Series since 2001.
Atlanta had lost eight straight Division Series, including in each of the previous two seasons, before outscoring the Marlins 18-5, including 11-0 in the final two games. The Braves are 5-0 with a 0.92 ERA in the postseason, allowing five runs in 49 innings.
Wright (1-0) was sharp despite not pitching since Sept. 25, allowing three hits and walking two with a career-high seven strikeouts. A.J. Minter, Jacob Webb and Shane Greene finished the five-hitter to give the Braves four shutouts in five playoff games.