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Trea Turner hit a first-inning home run, Julio Urias went five
innings and the Dodgers beat the Padres 5-3 on Tuesday.
Will Smith and Gavin Lux had RBI doubles as the Dodgers followed
a 111-win regular season by grabbing a 1-0 lead in the
best-of-five NLDS. Four relievers combined for four scoreless
innings as Los Angeles improved to 4-0 in two all-time playoff
series against the Padres.
Chris Martin pitched around a two-out single in the ninth to
record his first career postseason save.
The Dodgers defeated the Padres for the 15th time this season
and ninth time at Dodger Stadium.
"We have seen a lot of (the Padres) lately, especially the last
month of the season," Turner said. "We kind of knew what to
expect. You still have to execute and get the results, but I
think we were just ourselves and didn't give anything away."
Wil Myers homered in a three-run fifth inning for the Padres,
who are facing a deficit in the NLDS after not trailing while
winning their NL wild-card series against the New York Mets.
San Diego starter Mike Clevinger (0-1) lasted just 2 2/3
innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on six hits with two
walks and three strikeouts.
"It's a team that makes you work, and they make you throw a lot
of pitches," Padres manager Bob Melvin said of the Dodgers.
"When you throw pitches in the middle of the plate, they take
advantage of it. That's what I saw early on with (Clevinger).
... They hit his mistakes."
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead on Clevinger's sixth pitch when
Turner crushed a home run halfway up the bleachers in left
field. After a two-out double from Smith, Max Muncy made it 2-0
with an RBI single through the infield and into left-center
field.
Smith and Lux delivered their RBI doubles three batters apart in
the third inning for a 4-0 lead. Cody Bellinger added a third
run in the inning when his ground ball with the bases loaded was
misplayed by Myers at first base.
The Padres came to life in the fifth. Myers led off with a home
run to left off Urias, Jake Cronenworth followed with a single
and Ha-Seong Kim doubled to put runners at second and third.
Trent Grisham grounded out to score Cronenworth, and Austin
Nola's sacrifice fly to left brought home Kim to cut the
Dodgers' lead to 5-3.
San Diego put the tying run on base in the sixth inning with no
outs against Los Angeles right-hander Evan Phillips, but pinch
hitter Josh Bell struck out and Myers grounded into a double
play.
"Overall, we put up a good fight, came up a little short there,"
Myers said, "but overall (we) like where we are. ... It would be
good to go 1-1 here and get back home."
Urias (1-0) gave up three runs on four hits with no walks and
six strikeouts. Phillips, Alex Vesia, Brusdar Graterol and
Martin finished off the victory in relief. The Dodgers are
operating without a true closer after Craig Kimbrel was left off
the NLDS roster.
"It's kind of been like this all year, obviously not in the
closer role, but the rest of the guys have come in and bounced
around," Martin said of the Dodgers' bullpen success this
season. "We're prepared for it. We're used to it, and they are
putting us in good situations to succeed."
The Padres' bullpen retired the last 14 Dodgers batters after
Freddie Freeman's walk in the fourth.
--By Doug Padilla, Field Level Media
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