D. Mountain Delivers on the Mound and at the Plate as Dodgers Defeat Padres 11-1

If D Mountain will not come to the Dodgers, the Dodgers must go to D Mountain.

Rich Hill AKA "D Mountain," allowed two hits over six innings, Chris Taylor AKA "CT3", Justin Turner AKA "RedTurn2" and Max Muncy AKA "Munce" all homered, and the Los Angeles Dodgers routed the San Diego Padres 11-1 on Friday night to snap a three-game skid.

Hill (6-4) retired his first 12 batters, seven of them on strikeouts, before Hunter Renfroe doubled leading off the fifth.

"As the game went on the feel started getting better," said Hill who was perfect through the first four innings. "Everything needs to be really tightened up as we move on here through September. Things get amplified and you wan't to be as close to perfection as you can be."

Hill added another strikeout and had one walk on 90 pitches in his first win since Aug. 7 at Oakland. The only other hit the veteran left-hander gave up was a triple to Freddy Galvis in the sixth.

In his last seven starts since the All-Star break, Hill has been sensational, going 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP over that span.

"I don't pitch to the score at all," said Hill of hows he managed to stay consistent from game-to-game recently. "The creativity is something I try to tell everyone who will listen that you need to have as a pitcher."

At the dish, D. Mountain also drove in his second run of the year with an RBI single in the fifth inning, finishing the game 1-for-3 with a run scored.

"I closed my eyes," joked Hill of his RBI. "It's a predetermined swing and he hit my barrel. I'll take it."

The last-place Padres proved the antidote that the slumping Dodgers needed after scoring just six runs while getting swept in three games by St. Louis. Los Angeles had lost nine of its last 12 and 10 of 14, but the victory brought them back to .500 at home (33-33).

The Dodgers pounded out 13 hits and scored in each of the first five innings.

Taylor homered on his first pitch from Clayton Richard (7-11) in the third. Turner added a two-run shot on Richard's first pitch to him in the fourth, extending the lead to 7-0.

"It was good to get out early and get some runs for Rich or D. Mountain," said Turner after the game. "A lot has been said about hitting with runners in scoring position, and it was good to get that monkey off our back tonight. Hopefully we can settle down and relax and continue to take good at-bats in those situations."

Turner drove in three runs in the game and has been on a tear in the month of August, batting .392 with 17 runs, seven soubles, one triple, five homers and 13 RBI. 

"I think offensive is contagious," added Turner. "If you look at the way our offense has gone all year long, when it goes good early it goes really good, and when there's opportunities lost early in the game, it almost seems like it kind of builds up that anticipation or that anxiety. I think its something most guys are aware that we need to do a batter job."

Richard gave up seven runs — six earned — and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out three and walked two.

Pinch-hitter Muncy slugged his team-high 29th homer, a two-run shot that made it 11-0, in the seventh. The Dodgers have an NL West-leading 179 homers this season.

Muncy has reached base saely in all 11 games against the Padres this season and is batting .357 with nine runs, four homers and seven RBI against San Diego.

The Dodgers scored four runs in the second on Cody "Belli" Bellinger's RBI single, Brian "Bull" Dozier's RBI double down the third-base line and Turner's RBI single.

Bellinger's RBI double and Hill's RBI single extended the lead to 9-0 in the fifth.

The Dodgers' bullpen completed the four-hitter. Yimi Garcia gave up two hits and allowed the Padres' lone run on Galvis' RBI double in the eighth.

The Padres have lost nine of 11 and fell to 4-10 against their NL West rival this season, marking the eighth consecutive year they've lost the season series to the Dodgers.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Padres: 3B Wil Myers returned to the lineup, going 0 for 4. He had just one at-bat in the last two games after he was hit in the face by a groundball in batting practice Wednesday.

Dodgers: RHP Daniel Hudson (right forearm tightness) went on the disabled list. ... RHP Ross Stripling had his scheduled throwing session pushed back to Saturday, when he will face hitters for one or two innings. ... RHP Garcia was reinstated from the DL after missing 43 games with right forearm inflammation.

UP NEXT

RHP Brett Kennedy (0-2, 8.36 ERA) makes his fourth career start for San Diego and his second against a divisional foe. LHP Clayton Kershaw (6-5, 2.40) makes his 34th career start against the Padres. He is 18-6 with a 1.89 ERA against them, while holding opposing batters to a .186 average while averaging 9.52 strikeouts per nine innings.