EditorsNote: adds quotes from Bellinger, Tingler
Cody Bellinger hit a home run and made a spectacular, over-the-wall catch in the seventh inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers held on Wednesday and moved one win away from the National League Championship Series with a 6-5 victory over the San Diego Padres at Arlington, Texas.
Clayton Kershaw (2-0) gave up three runs on six hits over six innings for the Dodgers, who lead the best-of-five NL Division Series 2-0. Kershaw struck out six and walked none to win for the second time in two starts during this year's postseason.
Corey Seager had a two-run double among his three hits for Los Angeles, and Max Muncy added two hits and two RBIs.
Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning for San Diego. The Padres rallied for two runs in the ninth inning against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, and they had the bases loaded against right-hander Joe Kelly before Eric Hosmer grounded out to end it.
"It's going to take awhile to wind down from that one," Bellinger said. "That's postseason baseball right there."
The Dodgers edged closer to their fourth NLCS in five seasons. The only one they missed in that stretch was last season, when they lost in the NLDS to the eventual World Series champion Washington Nationals.
The Padres took a 1-0 lead for the second consecutive game when Wil Myers delivered a second-inning RBI double off Kershaw.
The Dodgers went on top in the third inning with Seager's two-run double. He then scored on a single by Muncy.
Los Angeles increased the lead to 4-1 in the fourth inning when Bellinger crushed a solo home run to center field.
The Padres stormed back in the sixth when Machado and Hosmer went back-to-back, cutting the deficit to 4-3. It was the third time in his career Kershaw gave up back-to-back home runs in the playoffs.
The Padres looked as if they were about to go back on top in the seventh inning. With Trent Grisham on second base, Tatis hit a towering fly ball to center against Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol, but Bellinger reached over the center field wall to bring the drive back into the park and end the threat.
"In my head, I was like, 'That's gone... or I'm going to get to the wall and maybe have a chance to catch it,'" Bellinger said. "Just kinda turned around as fast as I could, got to the fence and saw that it was robbable, so I just tried to time up the jump. And that's how it worked out.
"It was a big catch, and I'm just glad that I came up with it."
Graterol threw both his glove and cap in excitement after the out, with both teams shouting at each other following the half-inning.
The Dodgers subsequently scored twice in the bottom of the seventh, getting runs on a sacrifice fly from Justin Turner and a bloop single from Muncy to increase the advantage to 6-3.
The runs were key after the Padres scored twice in the ninth inning against Jansen on RBI hits from Mitch Moreland and Grisham. Kelly walked Tatis and Machado before he retired Hosmer for his first career postseason save.
"The guys battled, laid everything out there," Padres manager Jayce Tingler said. "To load 'em up there at the end, just great at-bat after great at-bat. Our guys kept battling and I'm just extremely proud of them for that. They've been doing it all year, and they've still got some gas in the tank. They're still going."
Padres starter Zach Davies (0-1) gave up four runs on nine hits over five innings with no walks and three strikeouts.
--Field Level Media
