Justin Turner lit the spark for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 7-0 rout of the Miami Marlins on Thursday afternoon. With the win the Dodgers snapped a season-worst six-game losing streak and avoided being swept in the series at Marlins Park.
Caleb Smith, who started one day later than initially planned, retired six of the first seven batters faced to get through two innings with relative ease. However, he walked Yasiel Puig to start the third, then put Chris Taylor and Austin Barnes on board to load the bases.
Turner began his big day with a bases-clearing double that broke a scoreless tie, and scored immediately after on Matt Kemp’s ground-rule double. Puig’s home run, his third in the past four games, extended the Dodgers’ lead in the fourth inning.
That was later followed by Turner ripping a two-run double down the left-field line. He finished with a career high-tying five RBI on the afternoon, and improved to 6-for-13 since returning from the disabled list.
Whereas Kemp and Turner breathed some life into what’s been a listless offense for much of the season, Kenta Maeda shouldered the burden for a struggling pitching staff. He held the Marlins to just two hits and recorded eight strikeouts over eight shutout innings.
Maeda finished his day’s work by retiring 17 consecutive batters. It marked just the second time of his career reaching the eighth inning, and Maeda joined Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood as the only Dodgers pitchers to accomplish as much this season.
While it was nothing close to a save situation, Kenley Jansen entered in the ninth to wrap up the Dodgers’ win. Jansen worked around an infield single and bloop base hit in what was his second relief appearance in the last nine days.
