San Diego

Dodgers Hit 3 Homers in 7-2 Victory Over Padres

Manny Machado slugged a three-run homer on his bobblehead night to highlight a five-run third inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 7-2 on Saturday night.

There's something about Dodger players named "Manny" on their bobblehead night.

Manny Machado slugged a three-run homer on his first ever bobblehead night in Los Angeles, and the Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres, 7-2, on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.

"Manny Machado bobblehead night and he came through with a big homer," said Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts. "I know he was excited about the bobblehead night, 55,000 people and we fed off that. He wants that signature moment and that big hit for us."

Machado's homer was one of three by the Dodgers in the game, giving them a National League-leading 222 on the season and breaking the club record of 221 set last year.

"It's distributed pretty well," said Roberts of the record 222 homers. "Obviously the seven guys with the 20 homers, but the ability to hit the longball is great. It's a threat."

Joc Pederson and Yasmani Grandal also homered for the Boys in Blue. 

The Dodgers' division lead remained 1 ½ games ahead of Colorado, which won 5-1 at Arizona.

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Rich Hill became the Dodgers' first 10-game winner, allowing one run and four hits in seven innings. The left-hander (10-5) struck out seven and walked none.

"I don't really pay any attention to that," said Hill of becoming the team's first 10-game winner. "I'm just excited we won and are keeping pace here where we should be. As long as we continue to win and make that push for the division, that's all that matters."

Hill has been stellar since the All-Star break with an 8-1 record. In his 12 second-half starts, the Dodgers are 9-3. 

Surprisingly, it took the Dodgers 155 games to have a pitcher record his 10th win this season, the most amount of games for any pitcher in franchise history to reach at least 10 wins (147 games in 1944).

Machado caught a nice toss from his wife Yainee Alonso in the pre-game first pitch ceremony.

"I think she has the best arm of everyone [in the family]," joked Machado after the game. "It was a fun day. I got to catch the first pitch from my wife. Bobblehead night. We got the W, and it can't get any better than this."

Then reminiscent of Manny Ramirez (2009) and Yasiel Puig (2015) homering on their bobblehead nights, Machado launched his 36th long ball of the season to right-center on the first pitch from Jacob Nix (2-4). Machado had 24 homers with Baltimore before being traded on July 18.

Fans responded with chants of "Manny! Manny!"

The Dodgers batted around in the third, when Justin Turner doubled down the left-field line to drive in a pair of runs. Machado's shot scored Turner and Max Muncy, who was hit by Nix, giving the Dodgers a 6-0 lead.

"That whole inning was big for us and was a big turning point for us," said Machado. "When situations come up like that for us, it's what counts and makes us one of the best teams in baseball when we can do that."

Yasmani Grandal hit his 24th homer off Brad Wieck in the sixth and Joc Pederson went deep in the first for his seventh leadoff homer of the season.

Pederson's seventh leadoff homer tied Davey Lopes record in 1979 for the most leadoff homers by a Dodger in a single season.

"That was a great way to start the game," said Machado of Pederson's homer. "Joc starting off the game like that I think it's his sixth or seventh time leading off the game. When you have a guy that can hit a home run in the first at-bat, it sets a tone for the rest of the game."

San Diego's first run came on Hunter Renfroe's 25th homer with two outs in the sixth, leaving him one shy of tying his career high set last year. 

The Dodgers' bullpen struggled in the ninth.

After getting a quick out, Yimi Garcia allowed a double to Austin Hedges. Tony Cingrani came on and hit Eric Hosmer before giving up a single to Wil Myers that loaded the bases. Manuel Margot followed with an RBI single.

That forced manager Dave Roberts to bring in closer Kenley Jansen, who struck out the final two batters to earn his 37th save.

"I didn't expect to use him tonight considering how the game played out," said Roberts. "But for him to come in, it was good to see the swing and miss."

Rookie Nix gave up six runs and six hits in 2 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked none.

The Dodgers are 13-7 in the month of September, and have one eight of their last 10 games since Sept. 12.

UP NEXT

LHP Joey Lucchesi (8-8, 3.74 ERA) goes for the Padres in the series finale. The third straight rookie to start in the series, Lucchesi is 0-2 with a 5.00 ERA in two starts against LA.

LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (5-3, 2.18) starts the Dodgers' last home game before they end the regular season on the road. Ryu has given up three earned runs in 11 2/3 innings of two starts against the Padres.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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