Enrique Hernandez’s two-run double with one out in the ninth inning broke a tie as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the host Seattle Mariners 5-3 on Saturday night in a matchup of playoff teams.
Dalton Rushing homered for the National League West champion Dodgers (92-69), who won their fourth consecutive game. The Dodgers are already locked into the NL’s No. 3 seed and will play in the wild-card round.
Jorge Polanco went deep for the American League West champion Mariners (90-71), who lost their second in a row following a 17-1 stretch. Seattle has clinched the AL’s No. 2 seed and will get a first-round bye.
Mariners closer Andres Munoz (3-3) walked the first two batters in the ninth, Michael Conforto and Alex Call, before Miguel Rojas hit a soft grounder to first base to advance both runners. Hernandez then lined a ball that one-hopped off the wall in the left field corner to score both runners.
Dodgers left-hander Alex Vesia (4-2) struck out the side in the eighth to earn the victory, and Edgardo Henriquez worked the ninth for his first save of the season.
It was scoreless until the fifth when Rojas hit a one-out double and, an out later, Rushing went deep to right off Mariners starter Logan Gilbert.
The Mariners got those runs back plus one more in the bottom of the inning. Randy Arozarena led off with an infield single before being forced out at second when second baseman Rojas let Cal Raleigh’s pop-up drop. Julio Rodriguez lined a single to right before Polanco lined a three-run shot off Dodgers reliever Andrew Heaney that just cleared the fence in the left field corner.
The Dodgers tied it at 3-3 in the seventh as Conforto led off with a bloop single to shallow left and took third on Hernandez’s two-out single to right. The run scored on a wild pitch by Logan Evans.
Gilbert went five innings and allowed two runs on four hits, with one walk and five strikeouts.
Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow pitched three scoreless innings, giving up three hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
–Field Level Media
