Turner homers, Hill fans 9 as streak hits 9
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MIAMI -- Justin Turner keeps hitting, and the Dodgers keep winning. The third baseman homered and drove in two to lead Los Angeles to a ninth straight victory and a three-game sweep of the Marlins, 3-2, on Sunday at Marlins Park.
The Dodgers, who boast a Major League-best 64-29 mark, have won 29 of their last 33 games since June 7. Miami was swept for the first time since Houston took three at Marlins Park from May 15-17.
"I know that he likes to throw that cutter in," said Turner, who hit his 11th homer of the season and went 2-for-3 for his team-leading 29th multi-hit game. "I got ahead on the count and was just looking middle in, and he just left it in."
Facing a left-hander for a second straight game, the Marlins struggled against Rich Hill. After tossing seven perfect frames on Sept. 10, 2016, in Miami, the southpaw fanned nine over five innings of one-run ball.
"This has been five starts in a row where he's been in control," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "The command on the mound, his mound presence and just the way he's throwing the baseball. He has such good feel of that breaking ball."
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Christian Yelich singled home a run to bring Miami within one off Kenley Jansen in the eighth, but the Dodgers' closer fanned pinch-hitter Justin Bour on a 97-mph fastball with two on to end the Marlins' threat. Jansen worked a perfect ninth for the four-out save (No. 23).
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Making his second big league start, Marlins southpaw Chris O'Grady allowed three runs on five hits over five innings while striking out six. The Dodgers tacked on their third run off O'Grady on Austin Barnes' RBI single in the fourth.
"He's not a guy that's gonna overpower," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of O'Grady. "He's gonna have to hit spots and change locations, but he hung in there."
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MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Turner time: Turner's day began with a first-inning solo homer off an O'Grady cutter, but his at-bat that counted most came in the third. With two runners on, Turner lifted a 1-1 fastball deep enough to right to score Logan Forsythe from third. Turner, who is just a few at-bats away from qualifying to sit atop the batting average leaderboard, added two hits to push his season clip to .374.
"I knew coming in he was one of the guys I needed to keep off the bases," O'Grady said of Turner. "Him and [Cody] Bellinger and [Corey] Seager, and [I] did what I needed to do against the two lefties, but unfortunately Turner hurt us."
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The Hill has Ks:Marcell Ozuna's leadoff double in the second snapped Hill's perfect inning streak against Miami at eight, but it also gave the Marlins a chance to score early against him. The left-hander quickly extinguished the threat by fanning Tyler Moore and Derek Dietrich before catching A.J. Ellis looking on a 90-mph fastball to end the frame. Miami struggled with men on, going 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
"We started to scratch back," Mattingly said. "We had a few chances with guys out there and just weren't able to get that big hit." More >
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QUOTABLE
"I think a lot of offensive guys are going to be really happy to get out of this place. If we're at home in Dodger Stadium, we might have hit 20 homers this series. This place is enormous, and they have a very athletic outfield and cover a lot of ground. They made a lot of really good plays today, and the whole series, really." -- Turner
"We've just gotta rebound and get going. We were playing pretty well going into the break. We ran into a little bit of a buzzsaw here." -- Mattingly, on getting swept
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Ichiro Suzuki lined a pinch-hit RBI infield single off Hill's leg in the fifth, bringing him to 3,055 career hits. The 43-year-old is now tied with Rickey Henderson for 23rd on the all-time hits list.
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DEFENSE ROBS DODGERS
The left-field fence at Marlins Park was lowered from 11 1/2 to 7 feet in 2016 for two reasons: more home runs and more chances to rob home runs. So when Ozuna drifted back on a deep fly by Kiké Hernández in the sixth, he was well-equipped to snag it before it left the yard. Ozuna used one leg to leap onto the fence before hanging over it to rob Hernandez.
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Just an inning prior, Yelich took away extra bases from Forsythe on a leaping catch at the wall in left-center.
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"I mean, you've gotta love outfielders that are willing to do that," O'Grady said. "They're giving everything they've got. Made a couple really nice plays today, all three of them." More >
WHAT'S NEXT
Dodgers:Clayton Kershaw gets his first start since the All-Star break when the Dodgers open up a short two-game series against the White Sox at 5:10 p.m. PT on Tuesday. The left-hander is 14-2 and hasn't lost since May 1.
Marlins:Tom Koehler (1-4, 8.00 ERA) toes the rubber for his third start since being called back up to the Majors as the Marlins open a three-game set with the Phillies at 7:10 p.m. ET on Monday in Miami.
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