LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tommy Edman and Will Smith homered as the Los Angeles Dodgers scored five runs with two outs to beat the San Diego Padres 7-0 on Tuesday night in a series opener between rivals with the two best records in the majors this month.
The Dodgers (97-60) moved within one game of NL Central champion Milwaukee (98-59) for the top mark in the big leagues and home-field advantage throughout the postseason. However, the Brewers own the head-to-head
tiebreaker.
Los Angeles needs one win or an Atlanta loss to clinch a first-round bye into a National League Division Series.
The NL West champion Dodgers improved to 15-5 in September with their fifth straight victory; the Padres fell to 14-5 and had their five-game winning streak snapped.
San Diego's Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado were a combined 1 for 7 with five strikeouts.
The Dodgers chased Michael King (12-10) after four innings in his career-high 32nd start of the season. The right-hander gave up five runs and six hits and struck out five as his four-game winning streak ended.
The Dodgers broke out with four runs in the second. King got the first two outs on six pitches before loading the bases on consecutive singles by Teoscar Hernández and rookie Josue De Paula. King plunked Andy Pages, who was just off the injured list.
King then issued back-to-back walks to Edman and Mookie Betts, forcing in two runs. Freddie Freeman's two-run single made it 4-0.
Betts had a ground-rule double and scored on Freeman's two-out single for a 5-0 lead in the fourth.
Edman's solo shot came with two outs in the sixth and Smith followed with a 396-foot drive in the seventh for a 7-0 lead.
Brock Stewart started a bullpen game and Justin Wrobleski (12-5) got the win for the Dodgers, who used eight pitchers to earn the fifth shutout in franchise history when deploying at least that many.
Among them was reliever Edwin Díaz, who struck out two in one inning. Roki Sasaki's four-seam fastball touched 100 mph while he pitched one inning. The Japanese right-hander came off the injured list earlier Tuesday after missing nearly a month with a blister on his right middle finger.
Padres LHP Robbie Ray (13-8, 3.60 ERA) starts Wednesday against Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (14-8, 2.51).
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