Former Met Justin Turner carries Dodgers with five-RBI night
LOS ANGELES — Justin Turner homered and drove in five runs, Clayton Kershaw won despite giving up four homers and the Dodgers roared to a 9-5 victory over the Diamondbacks on Friday night in their NL Division Series opener.
Turner hit a three-run homer and Yasiel Puig added an RBI double before the Dodgers made their first out against Arizona starter Taijuan Walker, who lasted just one inning in his playoff debut.
Turner, a former Met, added an RBI single in the fourth and another in the eighth. The red-bearded slugger tied a Dodgers record for most RBIs in a postseason game, sharing it with Pedro Guerrero and Davey Lopes.
A.J. Pollock, J.D. Martinez, Ketel Marte and Jeff Mathis homered off Kershaw, but Arizona’s euphoria from its wild-card victory over the Rockies was erased during a rough first inning in Chavez Ravine.
Game 2 is Saturday night, with Rich Hill facing Diamondbacks lefty Robbie Ray.
Puig and Corey Seager both tripled and drove in two runs for the 104-win Dodgers, who beat their NL West rivals comfortably even while Kershaw added another weird chapter to his unimpressive playoff history.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner gave up only four hits in 6 ¹/₃ innings, but still became the first pitcher in team history to yield four homers in a postseason game. He earned a playoff victory at Dodger Stadium for the first time in his career.
Kershaw struck out seven, but the ace left-hander’s frequent inability to match his regular-season brilliance in October remains a constant presence. He struggled with the long ball again after serving up a career-high 23 homers during the regular season, but still earned his fifth victory in 15 postseason starts.