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Dodgers clinch playoff spot as Justin Turner hits two home runs

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SAN DIEGO — They have completed the first step — like correctly filling out your name on the SAT.

The Dodgers clinched a postseason berth for the 10th consecutive season Sunday afternoon, doing it in well-worn fashion by beating the San Diego Padres 11-2 behind a two-homer, five-RBI day from Justin Turner.

The win cut the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch their ninth National League West title in that time down to two with 23 games left in the regular season. The second-place Padres are off Monday, so the Dodgers can’t secure the division before Tuesday, when they play in Arizona.

Paper tigers pumped up as threats to the Dodgers’ regaining control of the division this season, the Padres are now 20 games back of Los Angeles, and have lost eight consecutive series against their neighbors to the north and 21 of the past 25 head-to-head meetings.

They are not alone. The Dodgers have lorded it over the NL West this season, winning 41 of 56 division games this season — a .732 winning percentage that would be the best in franchise history against division opponents.

Considered a strength, the Padres’ starting pitching has let them down over the past month, posting a 4.91 ERA in their past 27 games through Sunday — a stretch during which they have been fairly mediocre (14-13).

Right-hander Joe Musgrove did breeze through the first four innings against the Dodgers, allowing just a pair of singles to Freddie Freeman (15 for his past 30).

But an old slight came back to haunt Musgrove.

After giving up two home runs to Justin Turner in a 3-1 loss at Dodger Stadium on June 30, Musgrove offered up the opinion that he did not consider Turner “a huge threat.”

“Out of all the guys in the (Dodgers’) lineup, I didn’t feel like he was a huge threat,” Musgrove said after that game.

His opinion might have evolved since then.

Turner and Chris Taylor each hit solo home runs off Musgrove in the fifth inning Sunday, erasing an early 2-0 Padres lead.

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In the sixth, Mookie Betts led off with a double, Freeman was intentionally walked and Musgrove hit Will Smith with a pitch to load the bases with one out. Back in the lineup after getting a cortisone injection in his sore left knee and missing the first two games of the series, Max Muncy gave the Dodgers the lead with a two-run single. That ended Musgrove’s day before he could face Turner again.

In the seventh, though, the Dodgers broke the game open with a six-run inning — their major league-leading 19th inning of five or more runs.

Turner had the big hit in that one, his second homer of the day and second grand slam of his career.

Since his two-homer game off Musgrove to end June, Turner has hit .371 (59 for 159) with 40 RBI in 44 games, nine home runs and an OPS over 1.000.

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