LOS ANGELES -AP- There's something about Dodger Stadium that makes Alex Wood pitch especially well.He earned his career-high 12th victory, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 6-2 Friday night to take a half-game lead over the Mets for home-field advantage in their upcoming playoff series."I've always enjoyed pitching here," said Wood, who was acquired from the Braves on July 30.
"It seemed like he was ahead in the count and kept the ball down," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.The Dodgers improved to 90-70 -- their third straight season with as many wins -- after the Mets (89-70) got rained out earlier. New York, however, holds the tiebreaker because it won the season series. The teams will meet in the NL Division Series starting next Friday."We just want to win," Mattingly said. "We can only control that part of it."Los Angeles reached the 90-win mark for third straight year for just the second time in franchise history, joining the 1976-78 and 1951-56 teams. Their 53 home wins are tied for third-best in stadium history."We're playing for home field. I think it's a fairly big deal," Wood said. "It's go time. Guys are getting their last at-bats for a week."Corey Seager's two-run single highlighted a five-run third inning for the Dodgers.Casey Kelly (0-2) gave up three straight one-out singles in the third. Adrian Gonzalez's RBI single scored their first run and Justin Turner followed with a grounder for another run.Seager's two-run single made it 4-0 and A.J. Ellis' RBI single completed the burst.Turner's RBI single in the fifth extended the Dodgers' lead to 6-0.San Diego scored twice in the seventh on Alexi Amarista's groundout and Cody Decker's sacrifice fly.Kelly gave up six runs -- three earned -- and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings in his second start of the season after missing most of the last two years while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The right-hander struck out three and walked two."It just feels great just to get back on the mound at this level and still know that I can do it," Kelly said. "I've been dealing with a lot of inconsistency, so I was happy just to get my feet wet and get ready for next year."
"It seemed like he was ahead in the count and kept the ball down," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.The Dodgers improved to 90-70 -- their third straight season with as many wins -- after the Mets (89-70) got rained out earlier. New York, however, holds the tiebreaker because it won the season series. The teams will meet in the NL Division Series starting next Friday."We just want to win," Mattingly said. "We can only control that part of it."Los Angeles reached the 90-win mark for third straight year for just the second time in franchise history, joining the 1976-78 and 1951-56 teams. Their 53 home wins are tied for third-best in stadium history."We're playing for home field. I think it's a fairly big deal," Wood said. "It's go time. Guys are getting their last at-bats for a week."Corey Seager's two-run single highlighted a five-run third inning for the Dodgers.Casey Kelly (0-2) gave up three straight one-out singles in the third. Adrian Gonzalez's RBI single scored their first run and Justin Turner followed with a grounder for another run.Seager's two-run single made it 4-0 and A.J. Ellis' RBI single completed the burst.Turner's RBI single in the fifth extended the Dodgers' lead to 6-0.San Diego scored twice in the seventh on Alexi Amarista's groundout and Cody Decker's sacrifice fly.Kelly gave up six runs -- three earned -- and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings in his second start of the season after missing most of the last two years while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The right-hander struck out three and walked two."It just feels great just to get back on the mound at this level and still know that I can do it," Kelly said. "I've been dealing with a lot of inconsistency, so I was happy just to get my feet wet and get ready for next year."
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