Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting an RBI single and advancing to second on a throwing error by San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. during the seventh inning of a baseball game on Thursday, September 26, 2024, in Los Angeles.
1:55 PM JST, September 27, 2024
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers won the NL West Thursday night by rallying to beat the second-place San Diego Padres 7-2 with a five-run burst in the seventh inning.
The Dodgers had not played at home since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when cardboard cutouts replaced fans in the stands. The last time fans were present at home for a clincher was in 2018.
A sold-out crowd of 52,433, including retired Dodgers star Manny Ramirez, packed Dodger Stadium for the finale of the crucial series between the top two teams in the division.
The Dodgers took two of three from the Padres and head to Colorado for a three-game set to close out the regular season.
Their 11th division title in 12 seasons earned them a first-round bye in the postseason.
The Dodgers improved to 95-64 and open the playoffs on October 5 at home in a best-of-five Division Series.
Will Smith hit a game-tying, two-run homer off Joe Musgrove to start the Dodgers’ rally. Musgrove had held them scoreless through six innings as the Padres took a 2-0 lead.
Musgrove gave up a walk to Max Muncy. Smith followed with a 130-yard shot to the middle, tying the game at 2-2. It was the Dodgers’ first home run in the three-game series.
Pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández singled and took second base when Andy Pages reached on Kyle Higashioka’s catcher’s interference. Shohei Ohtani singled and Hernández scored on an error, while Ohtani was safely at second on a Fernando Tatis Jr. throwing error.
Pages and Ohtani scored on Mookie Betts’ RBI single to make it 5-2.
Pages added a two-run, two-strike, two-out homer in the eighth.
The rally against the Padres was dampened by an apparent injury to All-Star slugger Freddie Freeman, who left the game after an awkward collision with Luis Arraez and the first base bag trying to avoid being tagged in for the second of the seventh. Freeman grabbed his lower right leg before staggering off the field.
