The Sports Xchange
Sep 26, 2017
LOS ANGELES -- Yu Darvish threw seven sharp innings, and Logan Forsythe and Austin Barnes delivered offensively as the National League West champion Los Angeles Dodgers won their 100th game of the year, beating the San Diego Padres 9-3 on Monday.
The Dodgers (100-57) have their first 100-win season since they went 102-60 in 1974. It is the seventh 100-win season in franchise history, four coming in Brooklyn (1899, 1941, 1942, 1953) and three in Los Angeles (1962, 1974, 2017).
With five games left to play, Los Angeles leads the Washington Nationals (95-61) by 4 1/2 games in the race to secure home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs. The Dodgers have a 1 1/2 game lead on the Cleveland Indians (98-58) to secure home field should both teams advance to the World Series.
It also was the Dodgers' 55th win at home, equaling the L.A. franchise record for home victories previously reached in 1980 and 2015.
Darvish (10-12, 4-3 since joining the Dodgers) had one of his best outings since coming to Los Angeles in a trade deadline deal from Texas, his slider biting hard against the overwhelmed Padres. He allowed just one run on two hits, one a bloop single, while striking out nine and walking none.
Forsythe went 3-for-3 with a walk and gave Darvish an early lead, slugging a three-run double to left-center in the first inning off Padres starter Travis Wood (4-7). He homered in the third, giving him four RBIs to match his career high.
Barnes, who has had a breakthrough season as a catcher and second baseman, hit a three-run home run to right field in the fifth inning, his eighth of the year, to pad the Dodgers' lead to 8-1.
It was the 51st start of the season for Barnes. He went 1-for-3 with a walk at second base and is hitting .285 with a .408 on-base percentage and a .483 slugging percentage overall. He has 21 extra-base hits and 31 RBIs in his starts.
Hunter Renfroe had an RBI double in the fifth, the only ball hit hard off Darvish. Two infield singles and an error helped the Padres produce two runs in the eighth.
Wood struggled in the first inning, allowing a leadoff double off the right-field wall to Chris Taylor and then walked Corey Seager and Enrique Hernandez to load the bases. He struck out Cody Bellinger, but Forsythe followed with a double to the left-field gap to unload the bases and give the Dodgers a quick 3-0 lead.
Rookie Rob Segedin doubled to start the second, advanced to second on a sacrifice by Darvish and scored on Taylor's fly to center.
Forsythe made it 5-0 in the third, slugging his sixth home run on the season to left field.
Darvish retired the first 13 Padres before hitting Cory Spangenberg in the leg with an errant slider in the fifth. Renfroe followed with a run-scoring double to center for the first San Diego hit and run.
Barnes slugged his three-run homer off reliever Cory Mazzoni to push the Dodgers' lead to 8-1.
NOTES: Dodgers RF Yasiel Puig was benched for Monday's game by manager Dave Roberts after reporting late for a mandatory pregame session. It was the second straight game in which Puig has been benched. Roberts said after Monday's game that Puig would start Tuesday. ... Dodgers 3B Justin Turner is expected to return to the lineup this week after missing the last four games with flu-like systems and a jammed thumb on his right hand. ... Dodgers 1B Adrian Gonzalez will start Tuesday's game as Roberts continues to assess players for the postseason roster. ... Padres OF Manny Margot turns 23 on Thursday and he is hitting .270 with a .321 on-base percentage and 18 home runs and 17 steals. ... Padres RF Hunter Renfroe had a run-scoring double Monday, extending his hitting streak to seven games. His 24 home runs tied Nate Colbert for the franchise record for home runs by a rookie.