LOS ANGELES — There were no crazy dogpiles atop the pitcher’s mound, no champagne bottles in the home clubhouse, no “We Won The West” T-shirts waiting for the players at their lockers.
LOS ANGELES — There were no crazy dogpiles atop the pitcher’s mound, no champagne bottles in the home clubhouse, no “We Won The West” T-shirts waiting for the players at their lockers.
The Los Angeles Dodgers wouldn’t dare say it, but a raucous crowd at Dodger Stadium sure thought it. The Dodgers just might have clinched the National League West on Wednesday, completing a sweep of the San Francisco Giants with a 2-1 victory, powered by a 132-pitch masterpiece from Clayton Kershaw.
The Dodgers lead the Giants by 6-1/2 games, with 30 to play. No team in the National League has a larger division lead than the Dodgers, winners of eight of their past nine games.
If the Dodgers play .500 ball the rest of the way, the Giants would have to go 21-8 to force a tie in the NL West. The Dodgers and Giants have four games left against each other, in San Francisco during the final week of the regular season.
“I’d expect those 4 games up in San Fran to matter,” Kershaw said.
On Wednesday, Kershaw mattered.
In this era where six innings is considered a quality start, Kershaw threw his third complete game in his past 10 starts. He scattered six hits and tied a career high with 15 strikeouts, setting a career high with 251 strikeouts — the most by a Dodgers pitcher since Sandy Koufax struck out 317 in 1966.
He heard “M-V-P” chants when he batted in the eighth inning, and when he took the mound in the ninth. He would not leave before he had secured the final out, even as he tied his career high with 132 pitches.
“That’s just the MVP doing MVP things,” pitcher Brett Anderson said.
Closer Kenley Jansen was not available, but Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly acknowledged that the chance to push the Giants deeper into the standings also played a role in his decision to let Kershaw finish. This, Mattingly said, is why he sometimes pulls Kershaw before his ace is exhausted.
“It’s for games like this,” Mattingly said. “Trying to save the bullets.”
BLUE JAYS 5, INDIANS 1
TORONTO — R.A. Dickey pitched a four-hitter to win his seventh straight decision, Josh Donaldson had three hits and Toronto beat Cleveland.
Toronto won for the fifth time in six games and maintained a 1 1/2-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East.
Dickey (10-10) threw 92 pitches, including 68 strikes, in his second complete game of the season and 15th of his career. He’s unbeaten in 10 starts, dating to a July 9 road loss against the White Sox.
YANKEES 13, RED SOX 8
BOSTON — Greg Bird, John Ryan Murphy and Carlos Beltran homered during an eight-run second inning and New York beat Boston.
Stephen Drew doubled during New York’s big inning and added a three-run homer in the third. Didi Gregorius later homered for the Yankees.
Masahiro Tanaka (11-6) pitched into the seventh inning to help the Yankees won for the fifth time in six games. New York improved to 7-2 against the Red Sox at Fenway Park this season and 10-5 overall this season against their longtime rivals.
REDS 7, CUBS 4
CHICAGO — Joey Votto hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning that was set up by third baseman Kris Bryant’s two-out error, and Cincinnati beat Chicago.
Bryant hit a two-run homer in the eighth that made it 4-all. The rookie has 22 home runs and 84 RBIs.
ANGELS 9, ATHLETICS 4
OAKLAND, Calif. — Albert Pujols hit a two-run drive to make him one of four players with 10 career 35-home run seasons, and Los Angeles jumped on Oakland ace Sonny Gray.
Pujols had an RBI single in the first inning, then hit his 555th career homer in the second. He joined Hall of Famers Willie Mays (10) and Mike Schmidt (11) and Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez (12) to have reached 35 home runs in 10 or more years.
METS 9, PHILLIES 4
NEW YORK — Ruben Tejada hit an inside-the-park homer and drove in four runs to back Matt Harvey as New York returned to its winning ways against Philadelphia.
Yoenis Cespedes and rookie Michael Conforto had conventional home runs for the NL East leaders. They won for the 14th time in 16 games against the last-place Phillies this season. Philadelphia snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Mets with a 14-8 rout Tuesday.
ORIOLES 7, RAYS 6, 11 INNINGS
BALTIMORE — Chris Davis homered on a 3-0 pitch from Matt Andriese leading off the 11th inning, and Baltimore beat Tampa Bay to snap a six-game losing streak.
It was the second homer of the game for Davis, who has 38 for the season.
NATIONALS 4, CARDINALS 3
ST. LOUIS — Ryan Zimmerman homered twice, then doubled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning and Washington beat St. Louis to end a nine-game losing streak.
Zimmerman reached 200 career home runs with his second shot. Jayson Werth also homered for the Nationals.
BREWERS 9, PIRATES 4
MILWAUKEE — Jonathan Lucroy drove in three runs and extended his hitting streak to a career high-tying 10 games to help Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh for the fifth straight time.
The Brewers have won seven of their last eight against Pittsburgh.
Adam Lind homered, singled and drove in two runs for Milwaukee.
ROYALS 12, TIGERS 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Yordano Ventura struck out 11 over seven sharp innings, and Kansas City hit four home runs to rout Detroit.
Kendrys Morales hit a three-run shot, Cheslor Cuthbert added his first career homer, and Ben Zobrist and Lorenzo Cain also went deep as the AL Central leaders cranked out 14 hits.
MARINERS 8, ASTROS 3
HOUSTON — Rookie Shawn O’Malley had three hits, including a tiebreaking RBI single in a two-run eighth inning, and Logan Morrison padded Seattle’s lead with a three-run shot in the ninth.
It was the season debut for O’Malley, who appeared in 11 games for the Los Angeles Angels last season, but spent all year in Triple-A before being called up Tuesday. He had a run-scoring single in the second.
TWINS 3, WHITE SOX 0
MINNEAPOLIS — Tommy Milone struck out seven in seven innings and Miguel Sano hit another monster home run to help Minnesota beat Chicago.
Milone (7-4) gave up three hits and finished seven innings for the first time since July 8. Trevor Plouffe added two hits and two RBIs and Kevin Jepsen picked up his 10th save for the Twins.
Carlos Rodon (6-6) gave up two runs and five hits with four strikeouts and three walks in six innings for the White Sox.
MARLINS 7, BRAVES 3
ATLANTA — Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run homer, Martin Prado and Jeff Mathis each had two RBIs and Miami beat reeling Atlanta to complete a three-game sweep.
Moving past the Braves and into third place in the NL East for the first time since May 14, the Marlins earned their second three-game sweep in Atlanta and first since April 2009.
ROCKIES 9, DIAMONDBACKS 4
DENVER — Carlos Gonzalez homered twice, including a grand slam, and finished with a career-high seven RBIs in Colorado’s victory over Arizona.
Gonzalez had his 15th career multi-homer game, is tied with Nolan Arenado for the team lead with 33 home runs. Arenado also homered.
RANGERS 4, PADRES 3, 10 innings
SAN DIEGO — Mitch Moreland doubled in the go-ahead run in the 10th to give Texas the victory.
Moreland’s line drive down the right-field line off Bud Norris (1-1) scored Elvis Andrus, who had reached on a one-out single.
The Rangers cut first-place Houston’s lead in the AL West to two games. Texas, which has won nine of 12 games, retained its one-game lead over Minnesota for the second AL wild-card berth.