LOS ANGELES -- Securing home-field advantage in the NL Division Series was low on the agenda coming into this week. The Los Angeles Dodgers were just trying to clinch a playoff spot after a weekend of blown opportunities.
But the chance to open the playoffs at home began to present itself as the week wore on, and on Saturday night, the Dodgers guaranteed that would happen by knocking off the visiting San Diego Padres 2-1 at Dodger Stadium.
Coupled with the Washington Nationals’ sweep of the New York Mets in a doubleheader Saturday, the Dodgers are guaranteed to finish with a better record than the NL East champions.
How it happened: Justin Turner gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead with a solo homer in the first inning and also prevented a productive inning by the Padres by bare-handing a pair of well-placed bunts in the third and throwing out the batters. The Dodgers missed a chance at a big inning in the fourth when Adrian Gonzalez grounded into a double play with runners on first and third, but Howie Kendrick scored on the play, and that proved to be a key run. Southern California native Austin Hedges went deep off Dodgers starter Zack Greinke in the fifth, but that proved to be the only ding against the right-hander, who improved to 19-3 while lowering his league-leading ERA to 1.66.
What it means: The Dodgers probably didn’t have their bags packed anyway, but they can rest easy knowing they won’t have to hit the road for at least another week. They’ll open the NLDS on Friday at Dodger Stadium, where they’ve built the second-best home mark in the majors at 54-26. Greinke earned his second MLB ERA title after pitching eight innings. He lasted at least six innings in all 32 starts this season and allowed one earned run or fewer in 21 of those outings. He also recorded his 200th strikeout of the season and joined Dean Chance (1964), Luis Tiant (1968), Bob Gibson (1968) and Dwight Gooden (1985) as the only pitchers in the past 60 years to record at least 200 strikeouts with an ERA of 1.70 or lower.
Notable: Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig came off the disabled list and was in the starting lineup for the first time since straining his right hamstring Aug. 27. He hit a shallow fly ball to right field his first time up, and the ball got a few feet behind a sliding Travis Jankowski, but Puig had just reached first base by the time Jankowksi retrieved the ball, and he couldn’t advance to second. Puig also ran gingerly to first on a grounder to second his second time up and finished 1-for-3.
Up next: Clayton Kershaw (16-7, 2.16 ERA) is expected to get a limited workload for the Dodgers on Sunday, but he’d probably like to stay in long enough to get six strikeouts and become the first pitcher since 2002 to record 300 in a season. He’ll be against Frank Garces (0-0, 5.00) in a bullpen game for the Padres.
