Photo credit: @Dodgers
By Jeremy Kahn
SAN FRANCISCO — With the last playoff spot on the line, all the Los Angeles Dodgers needed to do was to defeat their longtime rivals, the San Francisco Giants, on their home field.
Manny Machado, who was acquired by the Dodgers near the trade deadline gave them the hit that they were looking for, as he hit a triple with two outs in the top of the eighth inning and the Dodgers defeated the Giants 10-6 before a sellout crowd of 41,768 at AT&T Park on Saturday.
With the victory, the Dodgers clinched their sixth consecutive playoff appearance. According to STATS, LLC., it is the third longest such in Major League history.
Only the Atlanta Braves, who made it to 14 consecutive postseasons from 1991-2005, and the New York Yankees, who went to 13 straight from 1995-2007, have longer streaks.
Machado tripled off of Mark Melancon to give the Dodgers a 6-5 lead and then Max Muncy hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth inning, as the Dodgers blew the game wide open to take a 10-5 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning.
Bay Area native Joc Pederson got the Dodgers on the board in the top of the first inning, as he hit a leadoff home run off of Giants Starter Derrick Rodriguez.
It was the eighth leadoff home run of the season for Pederson, breaking the record of seven that was set by Davey Lopes back in 1979.
Pederson now has 11 leadoff home runs in his career, tied for the third most in Dodgers history with Johnny Frederick, trailing Rafael Furcal, who hit 14 and Lopes, who hit 28 in his career.
Yaisel Puig extended the Dodgers lead up to 2-0 in the top of the second inning, as he launched a Rodriguez pitch into the left field seats.
Gorkys Hernandez cut the Dodgers lead in half in the bottom of the second inning, as he singled in Brandon Crawford.
Joe Panik gave the Giants the lead in the bottom of the third inning, as he singled to score Gregor Blanco and Hunter Pence.
Enrique Hernandez doubled to center field to score Puig in the top of the fourth inning to tie up the game.
Clayton Kershaw helped out his own cause in that fourth inning, as he singled to right field to score Yasmani Grandal and Hernandez to give the Dodgers a 5-3 lead.
Hunter Pence got the Giants within one in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he doubled off of Kershaw to score Abital Avelino, who singled.
Panik tied up the game in that fifth inning, as he hit a sacrifice fly to score Pence from third base.
Rodriguez lasted just three innings, allowing five runs on six hits, walking and striking out one in his final start of the season.
It was also a rough day for Kershaw, who went just five innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, not walking a batter and striking out four.
Alex Wood pitched 1.1 innings in relief, as he won for the ninth time this season and Melancon took the loss, as his record fell to 1-4 on the season.
UP NEXT: The Giants and Dodgers will wrap up their regular seasons with a Sunday matinee finale at 12:05 pm PT.
Andrew Suarez will close out the season for the Giants, as he goes for his eighth win of the season, while Walker Buehler goes for the Dodgers.
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