Led by two from Justin Turner, the Los Angeles Dodgers hit five home runs in a 9-5 win that officially eliminated the L.A. Angels from postseason contention. The Angels went into the Freeway Series needing to complete a sweep and for the Houston Astros to lose their final three games.
The Texas Rangers did their part to assist the Angels by earning a walk-off win over the Astros in extra innings. But shortly after that went final at Globe Life Field, the Dodgers made their move to reclaim the lead for good.
It was a bit of a rough night for Clayton Kershaw in his final start of the season. The Dodgers didn’t intend to exert him by any means but it was not scheduled to be an abbreviated outing.
Kershaw wound up laboring a bit as he allowed four runs on eight hits, including a pair of homers. He didn’t factor into the decision and finished the 2020 season at 6-2 with a 2.15 ERA and 0.75 WHIP in 10 starts.
Mike Trout’s three-run blast gave the Angels a lead in the third inning. After Turner’s first blast cut the Dodgers deficit in half in the bottom of the third, Justin Upton led off the fourth with a home run of his own.
AJ Pollock then jumped on the first pitch he saw from Andrew Heaney for a solo home run that cut the Dodgers’ deficit in half in the fourth inning. It was Pollock’s eighth home run in September, good for the second-highest total for a calendar month in his carer.
While Pollock pulled the Dodgers to within a run, that was only for the Angels’ lead to quickly double yet again as Jared Walsh greeted Brusdar Graterol with a leadoff homer in the fifth inning.
Turner’s second homer of the game pulled the Dodgers closer, and Will Smith ended a nine-pitch at-bat with what held as a game-winning two-run blast. The Dodgers added to their lead in the seventh inning on Joc Pederson’s RBI single, and again in the eighth behind a two-run homer from Edwin Rios.
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