Trea Turner Wins NL Batting Title, Dodgers Beat Brewers 10-3
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Trea Turner hit his second grand slam in less than 48 hours to easily wrap up the NL batting title, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 10-3 Sunday for their 106th victory only to finish as the winningest-second place team in major league history.
The Dodgers' streak of NL West titles ended with them one game behind the San Francisco Giants, who beat San Diego 11-4 for their 107th victory. The Dodgers host St. Louis in the NL wild-card game on Wednesday, and the winner plays the Giants in the NL Division Series.
Turner hit .328, well ahead of former Washington teammate Juan Soto, who went 0 for 3 Sunday to end at .313. Turner went 1 for 3 with four RBIs and extended his hitting streak to 19 games while making a case for NL MVP honors.
Turner also led the league in hits (195), stolen bases (32) and total bases (319). He joined the Dodgers at the July 30 trade deadline from Washington, along with All-Star pitcher Max Scherzer, a strong contender for the NL Cy Young Award.
The Dodgers (106-56) tied a franchise record for wins set two years ago. They won their franchise-record 15th in a row at home.
Walker Buehler (16-4) allowed one run and three hits in five innings of his career-high 33rd start. He struck out a season high-tying 11, including six of his first eight batters, and walked one. His wins are a career high.
Los Angeles' 107 wins were the most for a team that failed to finish first, one more than the 1909 Chicago Cubs and 1942 Brooklyn Dodgers.
The Dodgers capitalized with three walks and two infield hits in the fifth before Turner's fifth slam gave them a 6-1 lead. He had a slam on Friday in the series opener and six homers in the last eight regular-season games.
Aaron Ashby (3-2) walked Will Smith and Chris Taylor. Pinch-hitter Matt Beaty reached on a single to shortstop, loading the bases. Ashby walked Mookie Betts, forcing in Smith with the tying run.
Corey Seager, who went 3 for 3, reached on an infield single to first, scoring Taylor with the go-ahead run. That loaded the bases again to set up Turner, who gave the Dodgers their franchise-record 11th grand slam of the season.
Beaty finished 3 for 3 with a three-run homer in the eighth.
Milwaukee scored its runs on RBI doubles by Avisail Garcia in the first, and Rowdy Tellez and pinch-hitter Eduardo Escobar in the eighth.
With nothing on the line, the Brewers sat Christian Yelich, Kolten Wong and Lorenzo Cain. The NL Central champions play Atlanta in the Division Series starting Friday.