Wednesday, September 24, 2014
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Turner homers twice to lead Dodgers to win over Giants

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[September 24, 2014]  LOS ANGELES -- The stage is set for a repeat performance by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Second baseman Justin Turner homered twice, and the Dodgers moved closer to winning their second straight National League West title with a 4-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants before 49,251 fans at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night.

Right fielder Matt Kemp, who celebrated his 30th birthday, also delivered a home run for the Dodgers (90-68), who can clinch the division crown with a win Wednesday over the Giants (85-72). Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will start the series finale against San Francisco's Tim Hudson.

"Obviously, a big win for us and it's all set up perfectly with Kershaw going tomorrow night, and we're excited about it," said Turner, who is batting .385 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in 15 games this month.

Dodgers starter Zack Greinke, unbeaten in his last seven starts, had a solid outing, allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts and no walks in eight innings. Greinke (16-8) has defeated the Giants in all five of his starts this season. Greinke also is 11-0 in 14 starts against NL West opponents.

"He was sharp. He didn't really have a lot of real battle innings," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.
 


Closer Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 44th save.

The Giants fell a game back of the Pittsburgh Pirates for the top spot in the wild-card race. However, the Giants maintained a five-game lead over Milwaukee for the second wild-card spot. They can clinch a postseason berth with a win Wednesday or a loss by the Brewers.

San Francisco's Madison Bumgarner, who had beaten the Dodgers in three of his previous four starts this season, shook off a shaky first inning, when he gave up two home runs (three overall), including Turner's to lead off the game. Bumgarner also initiated an incident in which both teams emptied their benches in the first after plunking Dodgers center fielder Yasiel Puig with a pitch.

Bumgarner (18-10), who provided the sole production of the Giants' scoring with a two-run homer, gave up four runs on six hits in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out five and also didn't walk a batter.

"He's really good and he's pitched really good against us," Turner said. "But Zack was better tonight."

Turner, who started at second base in place of Dee Gordon, opened the game with his first leadoff home run. He drove a 2-2 pitch by Bumgarner into the bleachers in left field for a 1-0 lead.

It was then that Bumgarner hit the next batter, Puig, on the foot. Puig, who was nailed by Jake Peavy on Monday, went down then jumped up and started toward Bumgarner as the two yelled at each other. The benches and bullpens cleared, but order was quickly restored.

"He'll know if it's on purpose. I'll make sure of that. Which it wasn't. Obviously," Bumgarner told MLB.com.

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Puig and Bumgarner have history, exchanging words as Puig circled the bases after homering off the left-hander earlier this summer.

"He looked at me and said ˜What are you looking at?'" Puig said through an interpreter. "I reacted after that comment. Back in May, I hit the home run off of him. We had a little back and forth there. I'm not sure if that's kind of a continuation of what happened tonight. I just reacted to what he said."

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Bumgarner's competitive nature just came out.

"He was already mad," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, referring to the lead-off homer Bumgarner gave up to Turner. "Bum, he's a competitor. There is so much intensity in his game when he pitches."

Kemp followed with his 24th homer, a two-run blast over the center-field wall for a 3-0 lead with one out.

In the third inning, Bumgarner tagged Greinke for a two-run home run to pull the Giants within 3-2. It was Bumgarner's fourth homer this season, the most by a Giants pitcher since the club moved to San Francisco.

However, all eyes will be on Kershaw and the Dodgers on Wednesday night as they attempt to wrap up the division against their biggest rival.

"The fans were awesome tonight and I know they're going to be even louder tomorrow night," Turner said. "Hopefully, we can get it done."

NOTES: Giants CF Angel Pagan will have season-ending surgery this week to repair a bulging disk in his back, the club announced. Pagan had missed six of the Giants' last seven games. He left in the sixth inning of Friday's contest against the San Diego Padres after experiencing tightness in his back and hasn't played since. ... The Dodgers posted consecutive 90-win seasons for the first time since a three-year run from 1976-78.

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