Sports Desk
Will Smith had a Dodgers playoff-record five hits and drove in three runs as Los Angeles routed the San Diego Padres 12-3 on Thursday in Arlington, Texas, to complete a three-game sweep in their best-of-five National League Division Series.
The Dodgers will face the Atlanta Braves, who completed a three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins earlier Thursday, in the best-of-seven NL Championship Series starting Monday in Arlington.
Smith also became the first catcher ever with a five-hit game in the postseason and the youngest player with a five-hit playoff game. He is 25 years, 194 days old, about two months younger than Paul Blair was when he went 5-for-6 for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 American League Championship Series.
Cody Bellinger drove in three runs for Los Angeles, and Joc Pederson capped a five-run third inning with a two-run, opposite-field single. Julio Urias, who worked five innings of relief and yielded just an unearned run, picked up his second win of the playoffs.
Braves 7, Marlins 0
Atlanta became the second team in major league history to record four shutouts in its first five postseason games, capping a three-game sweep of Miami in the NLDS at Houston. Starter Kyle Wright and three relievers blanked the Marlins on five hits.
After sweeping the Cincinnati Reds in the first round via 1-0 and 5-0 shutouts, the Braves put away the sixth-seeded Marlins with 2-0 and 7-0 shutouts after Atlanta opened the best-of-five set with a 9-5 win on Tuesday. The Braves matched the feat of the 1905 New York Giants, who shut out the Philadelphia Athletics in four of five games en route to the World Series title.
Oct 8, 2020; Arlington, Texas, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith (16) high fives his teammates after their win over the San Diego Padres after game three of the 2020 NLDS at Globe Life Field. The Los Angeles Dodgers won 12-3 to sweep the San Diego Padres. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Wright (1-0), who did not pitch in the Cincinnati series, did most of the work for the Braves in Game 3, checking the Marlins on three hits over six innings. He walked two and struck out seven. A.J. Minter, Jacob Webb and Shane Greene threw an inning of relief apiece.
Astros 11, A’s 6
Houston hit four home runs and advanced to its fourth consecutive American League Championship Series with an victory over Oakland in Los Angeles, taking the best-of-five AL Division Series in four games.
Michael Brantley homered twice, giving the Astros their third player with a multi-homer game in the series. Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve also hit home runs in Game 4. Correa went deep twice in the series opener, and George Springer hit a pair of home runs in Game 2.
The 24 home runs combined between the teams set a division series record and were the most homers in a series of five games or fewer, regardless of round. The A’s received two home runs from Ramon Laureano and initially set the division series record for home runs by a single team with 12.
The Astros matched it when Altuve went deep with the game in hand in the seventh inning.
Yankees 5, Rays 1
Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit homered as New York staved off elimination by defeating Tampa Bay in Game 4 of the AL Division Series in San Diego.
The decisive Game 5 is Friday. Gerrit Cole will start for the Yankees while Tampa Bay will start Tyler Glasnow on two days’ rest. Cole was the winner in Game 1. Glasnow struck out 10 in five innings while leading the Rays to a win in Game 2.
Torres gave the Yankees a 4-1 lead and some breathing room in the sixth when he drove a Ryan Yarbrough pitch to left field that nearly landed in the third deck. Voit, the majors’ leading home run hitter in the regular season with 22, started the scoring with a drive to left off opener Ryan Thompson (0-1) to lead off the second inning.
