EditorsNote: Fixed Heaney's innings pitched in final graf
Justin Turner hit two home runs and Will Smith hit a go-ahead two-run shot in the fifth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers earned a 9-5 victory Friday and officially eliminated the Los Angeles Angels from playoff contention.
AJ Pollock and Edwin Rios also hit home runs on a night when Clayton Kershaw was far from his best while giving up two home runs himself in four innings.
The Dodgers (41-17) wrapped up the best record in baseball.
Mike Trout, Justin Upton and Jared Walsh went deep for the Angels (26-32), who needed to sweep the Dodgers this weekend and have the Houston Astros get swept by the Texas Rangers to make the expanded playoff field. The Astros clinched instead with the Angels' loss.
The Dodgers have won eight of their last 10 games, while the Angels saw their three-game winning streak come to an end. They had won six of their previous seven.
The Dodgers jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Mookie Betts was credited with a steal of home. With runners on the corners, Max Muncy took off for second and Betts went home on the throw, which second baseman Luis Rengifo dropped.
The Angels jumped on top in the third inning when Trout hit a three-run home run against Kershaw. The runs were unearned after a Corey Seager fielding error earlier in the inning. It was not only Trout's 17th home run of the season, it was his first against Kershaw in 18 at-bats.
Turner hit his first homer of the game in the bottom of the third to pull the Dodgers within a run at 3-2. Struggling with a hamstring issue this month, it was his first long ball since Aug. 12.
The teams continued to trade home runs as Upton led off the fourth inning with his ninth, Pollock answered back to lead off the bottom of the fourth with his 14th and Walsh led off the fifth with his ninth as the Angels took a 5-3 lead.
The Dodgers moved in front 6-5 in the bottom of the fifth inning with Turner's second home run, and fourth of the season, and Smith's two-run shot off Matt Andriese (2-4), his seventh.
The Dodgers padded the lead to 7-5 in the seventh inning on Joc Pederson's pinch-hit RBI single and added Edwin Rios' two-run home run in the eighth, his seventh.
Angels starter Andrew Heaney gave up five runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts over four-plus innings. Dodgers right-hander Brusdar Graterol (1-2) worked an inning after Kershaw to pick up the victory.
--Field Level Media
