Corey Seager homered twice in the first three innings and finished with five RBIs as the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7-3 on Tuesday night and clinched their seventh straight National League West title.
The Dodgers, who have made it to the World Series the past two seasons but lost both times, had a low-key celebration on the field after the final out on Tuesday.
Los Angeles fell to the Boston Red Sox in five games last year and lost to Houston in seven in 2017.
Seager hit a three-run homer in the first and belted a two-run shot in the third as the Dodgers took a big early lead and never looked back. He hit both homers off of Baltimore starter Ty Blach.
Seager finished the night 2-for-5 with those five RBIs and two runs scored.
Seager came into the game 4-for-23 against Blach going back to the left-hander's recent time pitching for the San Francisco Giants. Gavin Lux, playing in just his seventh major league, added his first major league homer in the fifth inning as the Dodgers scored six of their seven runs from homers.
The offense proved more than enough for Los Angeles starter Walker Buehler (13-3). The right-hander was dominant, striking out 11 and allowing just four hits in seven shutout innings.
Blach (1-3), who has repeatedly struggled since coming to the Orioles, gave up four runs in a 44-pitch first inning. He lasted just 2 1/3 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits.
Cody Bellinger started the scoring in the first with an RBI single, and two batters later Seager belted his three-run homer to center to give Los Angeles a 4-0 lead.
Seager struck again in the third with a two-run shot to make it 6-0.
Lux got his homer against Tanner Scott. That was Lux's first RBI as well and gave the Dodgers a 7-0 lead.
DJ Stewart hit a solo homer off Casey Sadler in the eighth for the Orioles. Later in the inning, Renato Nunez added an RBI single, and a third run scored on an error.
--Field Level Media
LA Dodgers | Baltimore | |
Walker Buehler | Player | Ty Blach |
Win | W/L | Loss |
7.0 | IP | 2.1 |
11 | Strikeouts | 3 |
4 | Hits | 9 |
0.00 | ERA | 23.14 |
LA Dodgers | Baltimore | |
Gavin Lux | Player | Mason Williams |
3 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
7 | TB | 2 |
.750 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
LA Dodgers | 13 | 3 | 25 | .342 | 20 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
Baltimore | 7 | 1 | 10 | .206 | 11 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |