Turner, Dodgers start fast, hold off Padres in NLDS opener
LOS ANGELES — Trea Turner homered and doubled as the Los Angeles Dodgers started fast and held off the San Diego Padres 5-3 on Tuesday night in their NL Division Series opener.
Behind 17-game winner Julio Urías, the Dodgers raced to an early 5-0 lead and appeared to be on their way to another blowout of the Padres.
Los Angeles dominated in the regular season, owning a 14-5 advantage and outscoring San Diego 109-47. The 111-win Dodgers claimed the NL West and the Padres finished second, 22 games back.
With Sandy Koufax watching from the owners’ box, Urías retired the first eight batters he faced until Austin Nola doubled with two outs in the third.
“We have to give a lot of credit to our offense,” Urías said through a translator. “They did a good job battling, getting those runs early and putting us in a good spot to win.”
Chris Martin, who had two saves this season, gave up a single in the ninth, when the Padres had the potential tying run at the plate. Struggling closer Craig Kimbrel was left off the Dodgers’ roster for this best-of-five matchup.
Game 2 is Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium before the series shifts south to San Diego.
“No moral victories, but the latter part of the game was better than the first part for us,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said.
“We felt like we had a chance in the latter innings to win this game,” he said. “I think everybody is pretty eager to get back out here again.”
The Padres were coming off a win in the decisive Game 3 of the wild-card series Sunday night over the Mets in New York.
The Dodgers, who had five days off after drawing a bye, showed no signs of rust.
In the first, Turner hit a 419-foot shot into the left-field pavilion for his second career postseason homer and first as a Dodger. Two batters later, Will Smith doubled and scored on Max Muncy’s two-out single for a 2-0 lead.
The Dodgers batted around in the third, tacking on three more runs.
Turner doubled leading off and after Freddie Freeman flied out, Smith stepped in and doubled to deep left-center, nearly the same spot where Turner’s ball landed. Gavin Lux doubled to the right-field corner with two outs, driving in Smith and chasing Mike Clevinger.
Steven Wilson came in and promptly walked Trayce Thompson to load the bases.
Choking up, Cody Bellinger initially was thought to have been hit by a pitch and took first base as Muncy was forced in. But upon video review, it appeared the ball hit the knob of the bat. Bellinger was called back to the plate and Muncy returned to third.
Bellinger was then safe at first on an error by first baseman Wil Myers, scoring Muncy. The ball hit off the heel of Myers’ glove and he missed it on the pickup, leaving no chance to make a play on the speedy Bellinger.
The Dodgers’ offense — baseball’s highest-scoring this season — went quiet after the third. Their lone baserunner was Freeman, who walked. Mookie Betts and Freeman were a combined 0 for 7 with two strikeouts.
The Dodgers hadn’t played a must-win game since mid-June before running away with the division. But they found themselves in trouble in the fifth.
That’s when the Padres finally got to Urías, closing to 5-3 after he gave up three straight hits.
Myers led off with an opposite-field solo shot to left. Trent Grisham had an RBI grounder that scored Jake Cronenworth, who had singled. Nola’s sacrifice fly scored Ha-Seong Kim, who doubled.
San Diego threatened again in the sixth against Evan Phillips, but the defense bailed him out.
Juan Soto drew a leadoff walk. Booed heavily by the crowd of 52,407, Manny Machado followed with an infield trickler that the Dodgers hoped would roll foul. It did not, and went for a single.
After pinch-hitter Josh Bell struck out, Myers came up as the potential go-ahead run.
Myers grounded into an inning-ending double play, started by second baseman Gavin Lux. He flipped to Turner, and the shortstop double-clutched before firing to first to get Myers.
Urías allowed three runs and four hits in five innings. The left-hander struck out six and walked none.
Clevinger gave up five runs — four earned — and six hits in 2 2/3 innings. The right-hander struck out three and walked two.
ROSTER MOVE
Kimbrel had already been demoted from his ninth-inning role two weeks ago after struggling much of the season as the successor to Kenley Jansen, who left as a free agent last winter.
UP NEXT
RH Yu Darvish, who had a 3.10 ERA in the regular season, starts Game 2 for the Padres. LH Clayton Kershaw, the three-time Cy Young Award winner, goes for the Dodgers.
PHILLIES 7, BRAVES 6
ATLANTA — Nick Castellanos drove in three runs and made a potentially game-saving catch in the ninth inning, lifting Philadelphia over reigning World Series champion Atlanta in the opener of their NL Division Series.
Game 2 is Wednesday afternoon in Atlanta before the series shifts to Philly.
The Phillies have won three straight games to begin these playoffs, following up their wild-card sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals with a victory over the team that finished 14 games ahead of them in the NL East.
Matt Olson hit a three-run homer in the ninth off Zach Eflin to bring the Braves within a run. Castellanos capped off a brilliant day with his bat and his glove, making a sliding catch in right field for help snuff out the comeback.
Alec Bohm added two RBIs for the Phillies, who built a 7-1 lead by the top of the fifth. Travis d’Arnaud homered and drove in the other three Atlanta runs.
Max Fried failed to get through the fourth inning and was roughed up for eight hits and six runs — two of them unearned. Seranthony Dominguez struck out three in two innings of relief for the win.
