Mookie Betts and Corey Seager homered back-to-back in the first inning, Justin Turner and AJ Pollock did the same in the fourth, and Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres with an 8-3 victory Thursday night.
The defending World Series champions remained two games behind NL West-leading San Francisco, which beat Arizona 5-4 with a walk-off hit in the ninth inning. Los Angeles is chasing its ninth consecutive division title and time is running out.
The Dodgers won their 12th in a row at home, where they close out the regular season with three games against NL Central-champion Milwaukee while the Giants host San Diego. The Dodgers need to sweep the Brewers and have the Padres sweep the Giants to claim the division.
Seager continued his streak of hot hitting. He went 3 for 4 with two runs scored and has five homers in his last four games.
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The sellout crowd of 52,550 was still settling in when Betts launched his 23rd homer to left-center and Seager followed with his 15th to the lower right-field seats off Vince Velasquez (3-9).
The Dodgers extended the lead to 4-1 on Turner's 26th homer and Pollock's 20th in the fourth.
The Dodgers have 11 homers in their last two games. Betts homered to start a comeback in the seventh on Wednesday night, and Max Muncy, Pollock, Cody Bellinger and Seager slugged homers in the eighth to eventually win 11-9.
Seager added a solo shot in the seventh.
Fernando Tatis Jr. blasted a two-run, 467-foot shot — his NL-leading 42nd — that cleared the left-field pavilion in the fifth, drawing the Padres to 4-3. At 116.6 mph, it was the hardest hit ball of his career. Tatis snapped an 0-for-14 skid dating to last Friday.
Ha-Seong Kim homered for the Padres in the second.
The Dodgers tacked on three runs in the sixth for a 7-3 lead. Will Smith and Bellinger had RBI singles and Pollock had a sacrifice fly.
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Velasquez gave up four runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked one.
The Padres lost their last nine games against the Dodgers and finished the season series with a 7-12 mark.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: Placed RHP Yu Darvish on IL with left hip impingement. ... Reinstated RHP Craig Stammen from IL after he had flu-like symptoms.
UP NEXT
Padres: They hadn't named a starter for Friday's opener at San Francisco.
Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw (10-8, 3.38) starts Friday against NL Central champion Milwaukee. He's tossed two complete games against the Brewers, in 2013 and 2014.
