The Los Angeles Dodgers bounced back from a series-opening loss to the last-place San Diego Padres on Saturday night, making a statement with a 7-2 win to lower their magic number to clinch the National League West to just seven.
The night was a particularly memorable one at Dodger Stadium because the Dodgers hit three home runs, giving them 222 total for the season, which breaks the franchise record of 221 that they set a season ago.
Joc Pederson got the home run party started early when led off the bottom of the first inning with his 24th home run of the season. It marked his seventh leadoff long ball of the year, giving Los Angeles an early 1-0 lead.
They then added to that with five runs in the third to give them a commanding 6-0 lead. The big swing of that inning came off the bat of Manny Machado, who launched a three-run home run to right-center off Padres starter Jacob Nix. The three runs batted in gave Machado 100 total on the year between the Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles, which is the first time in his career that he has reached that milestone.
The record-setting home run came in the bottom of the sixth inning when catcher Yasmani Grandal hit a solo home run that barely wrapped around the left-field foul pole.
All of those runs were in support of left-hander Rich Hill, who turned in one of his strongest outings of the season. Hill completed seven innings for the first time since July 26, allowing just four hits and a run. He struck out seven without allowing a walk, requiring just 93 pitches.
The Padres only run off Hill came on a home run in the sixth inning off the bat of outfielder Hunter Renfroe. He took Hill deep to straightaway center field.
Alex Wood and Josh Fields combined to toss a scoreless eighth, but Yimi Garcia and Tony Cingrani struggled in the ninth so Kenley Jansen was required to come in and get the final two outs to complete the victory.
