LOS ANGELES (AP) - Keep the champagne on ice and the ski goggles on the shelf. The Dodgers were left waiting to clinch their fourth consecutive NL West title.
They certainly did their part.
Clayton Kershaw scattered three hits over seven scoreless innings, Josh Reddick slugged a grand slam in the seventh and Los Angeles beat the Colorado Rockies 14-1 on Saturday night to reduce its magic number to one with its fourth straight win.
The Dodgers just didn’t get any help from the Padres.
San Diego rallied from 6-0 down but then lost at home to San Francisco 9-6 in 10 innings. The final outs were shown on the video board at Dodger Stadium, with fans booing when the Giants won.
“They gave us a lot of hope there,” Kershaw said of the Padres’ comeback. “But we’ll wait until tomorrow.”
Los Angeles is on the brink of becoming the first team to win four straight NL West titles. The last NL club to claim four division titles in a row was the Philadelphia Phillies, who won the NL East from 2007-11.
The Dodgers can wrap up the title Sunday with a victory in Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully’s final home game before he retires next weekend.
“It’s always sweeter to clinch at home,” rookie manager Dave Roberts said, adding it would be only fitting with Scully watching from his fifth-floor booth.
Kershaw (12-3) struck out six and walked none to improve to 8-1 at home. The left-hander has been solid since coming off the disabled list after a herniated disk last month.
“Physically, I feel really good,” he said. “Just a little bit inconsistent with some things, sliders that didn’t quite get where I wanted to go.”
Chad Bettis (13-8) gave up seven runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings, struck out three and walked four. The right-hander has been having one of his best seasons, with career highs in wins, starts (31) and innings (179 1/3), but he struggled from the second inning on and fell to 6-6 on the road.
“It was pretty embarrassing,” Bettis said. “I tried to set the tone early but my pitches were coming back over the plate.”
The Dodgers led 4-0 in the second on Joc Pederson’s two-run single, a fielder’s choice groundout by Corey Seager and Justin Turner’s RBI single. Turner reached base five times, going 3 for 3, with two runs and two walks.
Los Angeles tacked on two runs in the fourth to make it 6-0. Pederson scored on left fielder Ryan Raburn’s error and Turner singled to drive in his second run.
Reddick, who went 3 for 4, added an RBI single in the sixth and Adrian Gonzalez had a two-run single in the seventh, extending the lead to 10-0. Reddick’s grand slam came with two outs in the seventh, making it 14-0.
Rookie Pat Valaika, from nearby Valencia, hit his first major league homer in the eighth off Jesse Chavez for Colorado’s run.
“There is thunder in that bat,” Colorado manager Walt Weiss said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Dodgers: LHP Rich Hill was scratched from his Sunday start out of concern for a blister that forced him to miss a month earlier in the season and caused him to leave a perfect game after seven innings on Sept. 11. He’ll be replaced by RHP Brandon McCarthy. Hill will start either next Saturday or Sunday at San Francisco. … LHP Scott Kazmir is receiving treatment for rib and chest spasms that forced him out of Saturday night’s game after one inning. The team doesn’t know if or when he will make another start. … Kershaw will start either Friday or Saturday at San Francisco.
CATCHING FIRE
Reddick is red-hot this month, batting .397 with five doubles, two homers and eight RBIs in eight games after struggling last month.
“August was a mixture of bad luck and bad swings,” he said.
KERSHAW AT THE PLATE
Known as a good hitter, Kershaw helped himself with a two-out RBI single in the fifth, extended the Dodgers’ lead to 7-0.
OOPS
Rockies catcher Tony Wolters lost track of how many outs there were in the sixth. With Adrian Gonzalez at bat, Justin Turner took off for second base. Gonzalez struck out swinging, Wolters stood up and started walking off the field only to have Turner steal second with two outs. The Dodgers went on to score a run before the inning ended.
TRANSISTOR TIME
Some Dodgers fans brought radios to the game in a throwback salute to Scully, who credits the transistor as the “single greatest break” of his 67-year career. In 1958, when the Dodgers moved west and played at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, fans toted radios to hear Scully describe the players and action that was too far away to see well in the vast stadium.
UP NEXT
Rockies: LHP Tyler Anderson (5-6, 3.58 ERA) makes his seventh start on the road, where he is 0-4 with a 5.10 ERA. The rookie has beaten the Dodgers twice this season, but hasn’t won that second victory over them on Aug. 31.
Dodgers: McCarthy (2-2, 3.63) comes off a month-long stint on the disabled list with right hip stiffness.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.