LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Dodgers will try to clinch their 12th National League West title in the past 13 seasons when they face the Arizona Diamondbacks Thursday afternoon in Phoenix.
The Dodgers lowered their magic number for assuring themselves of the title to one with a 5-4, 11-inning victory over the Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres’ 3-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday.
The Dodgers (89-69) would win the division with a victory in any of their four remaining games or a loss by the Padres (87-72) in any of their three remaining games. San Diego is idle Thursday.
The 12:40 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time game will be televised by SportsNet LA and broadcast in English by KLAC-AM (570) and in Spanish by KTNQ- AM (1020).
Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (11-8) is set to pitch for the Dodgers. Arizona has opted for a bullpen game with left-hander Jalen Beeks (5- 2) as its opener.
Yamamoto will be facing the Diamondbacks for the fourth time this season. He is 0-1 with a 2.84 ERA against Arizona. The Dodgers won both games he had no decisions. They are 16-13 in his 29 starts.
The Dodgers overcame another bullpen collapse for their victory Wednesday.
The Dodgers led 4-1 entering the eighth inning when Alex Vesia took the mound. After retiring the first batter he faced, Jordan Lawlar on a line out to left fielder Andy Pages, Vesia allowed a single to Ketel Marte and walked Geraldo Perdomo. Corbin Carroll doubled in Marte, prompting Dodger manger Dave Roberts to replace Vesia with Edgardo Henriquez.
Gabriel Moreno, the first batter Henriquez faced, hit a tapper in front of home plate catcher Ben Rortvedt could not control. Perdomo scored on the single, cutting the Dodgers’ lead to 4-3.
Adrian Del Castillo followed with a sacrifice fly, tying the score.
Arizona threatened to win the game in its half of the 10th. Perdomo led off by bunting Marte, the ghost runner, over to third. Roberts ordered the next two batters to be intentionally walked to load the bases and set up an easier double play.
Jake McCarthy popped out for the second out. Roberts then replaced left-hander Jack Dreyer with right-hander Blake Treinen to face the right- handed hitting James McCann. Treinen got ahead 0-2. McCann fouled off his third pitch, then flied out to right fielder Teoscar Hernández to end the inning.
The Dodgers took a 5-4 lead in the 11th when Tommy Edman singled in ghost runner Freddie Freeman with two outs.
Justin Wrobleski, the eighth Dodger pitcher, retired the Diamondbacks in order in their half of the 11th, striking out two, including Alek Thomas for the final out, for his second save.
Treinen (2-7) was credited with the victory, despite facing just one batter.
Clayton Kershaw made his first relief appearance since Game 5 of a 2019 National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals, pitching a perfect ninth inning.
Roki Sasaki retired Arizona in order in the seventh, striking out the final two batters he faced, in the first relief appearance of his nine-game major league career. The Dodgers activated Sasaki off the 60-day injured list earlier Wednesday. He had been sidelined due to right shoulder impingement.
Kershaw and Sasaki could both be used in relief in the postseason.
Shohei tripled leading off the game and scored when Mookie Betts followed with a sacrifice fly.
Marte doubled leading off the Diamondbacks’ half of the first, moved to third on Perdomo’s ground out and scored on Moreno’s sacrifice fly.
Andy Pages hit a two-run homer in the fourth for the Dodgers.
The Dodgers increased their lead to 4-1 in the eighth. Mookie Betts led off with a single and scored two outs later on Hernández’s double.
Dodger starter Blake Snell limited Arizona to one run and five hits over the first six innings and struck out five.
The loss kept Arizona (80-78) from moving into a tie with the New York Mets in the race for the National League’s third and final wild-card playoff berth. If the Dodgers win the NL West, they would face the third wild- card team in a wild-card series beginning Tuesday.
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