Dodgers hit parade backs Julio Urías in 100th win of the season

The Giants called it a bullpen game, but Saturday was more like batting practice for the Dodgers, who drubbed their longtime rivals 7-2 at Oracle Park in San Francisco for their 100th win of the season.

At 144 games, the Dodgers won 100 games faster than any team in franchise history, and the fifth-fastest MLB team to the century mark in the last 75 years.

After hitting two doubles in Friday’s series opener, Justin Turner had three singles on Saturday, two of them run-scoring. Turner has seven multi-hit games in September, during which he’s hitting .404/.473/.809.

He was one of three Dodgers with multi-hit games, including Freddie Freeman, who singled in each of his first two at-bats. That, at the time, gave him 185 hits in 556 at-bats, narrowly missing joining the Eddie Murray club.

San Francisco tallied a run in the first inning despite not hitting a ball out of the infield, thanks to some help from the Dodgers defense. Trea Turner misjudged a slow grounder to short, then dropped it. A potential inning-ending double play was turned slowly, and Freddie Freeman at first base couldn’t dig out Gavin Lux’s bounced throw.

The unearned run showed just how difficult it’s been to score off Urías, who has had virtually no rallies against him for a month and a half. Before Saturday’s early run, the previous five runs scored against the left-hander were all solo home runs, over 35 innings.

During that stretch, opponents batted 15 times with a runner in scoring position against Urías, who held them to 0-for-13 with four strikeouts and two walks.

The last non-homer run against Urías before Saturday was a single to the pitcher. His last hit to the outfield with a runner in scoring position came on July 29, eight starts ago.

The Giants were 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position in the first inning, and didn’t get another runner in scoring position against Urías the rest of the way. Wilmer Flores did hit a solo home run in the third, the main way to get a run across against Urías these days.

It’s been a chore getting any sort of a rally against the Dodgers ace, who lasted six innings for the 10th time in his last 11 starts and leads the National League with a 2.27 ERA.

Los Angeles had no such trouble stringing hits together against Sean Hjelle, the second of six pitchers used in the Giants’ bullpen game, and at 6’11, the tallest. Trayce Thompson slammed a two-run home run to left field in the second inning, one of three hits in the frame. In the third, Hjelle allowed five straight singles to open the inning for three more runs, then a walk loaded the bases and ended his night.

Hjelle allowed nine of his 12 batters faced to reach base. Six runs were charged to ledger, including one after he left. His eight hits allowed matched a record against the Dodgers in an outing of no more than one inning, done by five others, most recently by Tim Hudson in 2014, in the same ballpark.

Notes

• The Dodgers are 51-26 away from home this season, matching the 1952 Brooklyn team for most road wins in franchise history. Four road games remain on the schedule.
• The Dodgers’ magic number to clinch a bye into the National League Division Series is down to three, over the Cardinals. The earliest LA can clinch a bye is Monday.
• Joey Gallo’s double in the second inning was the Dodgers’ 300th of the season, the sixth time they’ve hit 300 doubles in a season. The franchise record of 312 doubles, set in 2017, is well within reach. Will Smith doubled in the ninth, his 25th of the season, giving the Dodgers 301 on the season.

Saturday particulars

Home runs: Trayce Thompson (11); Wilmer Flores (19)

WP — Julio Urías (17-7): 6 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 1 walk, 8 strikeouts

LP — Sean Hjelle (0-2): 1+ IP, 8 hits, 6 runs, 1 walk

Up next

The road trip ends Sunday night (4:08 p.m., ESPN), with Andrew Heaney on the mound for the Dodgers against Alex Cobb for San Francisco.