LOS ANGELES_A relatively smooth ride through an eventual 7-2 victory over the Miami Marlins took a troubling turn for the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday night when their best hitter, Justin Turner, left the game in the seventh inning because of a right hamstring injury.
Turner, who is batting a major league-best .379 with 17 RBIs and is tied for second in the National League with 13 doubles, was on second base with two outs after notching his team-leading 17th multi-hit game when Yasmani Grandal singled to left field.
But after Turner rounded third, he clutched his right leg and grimaced in pain. He was able to hobble his way home but was easily thrown out to end the inning and replaced by Chris Taylor at third base.
There was no medical update by the end of a victory that relievers Chris Hatcher, Luis Avilan, Josh Fields and Kenley Jansen secured by striking out 10 of 13 batters over the final 32/3 innings. But the injury appears at least severe enough to send Turner to the 10-day disabled list.
Before Turner shrieked in pain, the loudest sounds in Dodger Stadium were created by the hitters from both clubs, who combined to produce 14 batted balls with an exit velocity of 100 mph or more in the first six innings.
Leading the mash unit were right fielders Giancarlo Stanton, the Miami slugger who sent a screamer of a 114-mph double off the left-field wall in the second, and Yasiel Puig, the Dodgers slugger who sent a 111-mph drive deep into the left-center field pavilion for a two-run home run in the bottom of the second.
It wasn't a very fun night for the starting pitchers, though Dodgers left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu was able to mute the Marlins enough over 51/3 innings to limit them to two runs and seven hits, including two homers, to improve to 2-5.
Miami right-hander Edinson Volquez was rocked for five runs and eight hits in six innings, as the Marlins, who in April 2016 swept a four-game series in Dodger Stadium, lost for the ninth time in 10 games and fell to 14-26, the second-worst record in baseball.
Volquez, who two seasons ago was a member of the World Series-winning Kansas City Royals rotation, extended his streak of starts without a win to 15 dating to last Aug. 25.
Eight pitches into the first, the Dodgers loaded the bases on singles by Chase Utley, Corey Seager and Turner. Volquez minimized damage by getting Cody Bellinger to ground into a run-scoring fielder's choice and Grandal to bounce into a double play, but the Dodgers teed off on Volquez in a three-run second.
Joc Pederson singled before Puig crushed a 94-mph fastball deep into the pavilion in left-center for his team-leading eighth homer. The ball traveled 442 feet, the fourth-longest homer by a Dodger this season. Ryu cracked a 106-mph double to right-center, and Utley's sharp RBI single to center gave the Dodgers a 4-1 lead.
The Dodgers parlayed Turner's walk, stolen base and Adrian Gonzalez's RBI single to right _ his first hit since being activated off the disabled list Thursday _ into a 5-2 lead in the third.
Jansen's second career major league hit, an infield single in the eighth, contributed to a two-run rally that made the score 7-2.
Ryu needed nine pitches to retire the Marlins in order in the first inning. The left-hander's second inning was not quite as smooth. Stanton doubled to left and was thrown out trying to advance to third on a pitch that bounced to the left of Grandal, the Dodgers catcher.
That play saved a run, as Justin Bour followed with a 412-foot home run to right. J.T. Realmuto doubled off the left-field wall before Ryu retired Christian Colon on a fly to right and JT Riddle on a fly to the wall in center.
Ryu gave up an opposite-field solo homer to the left-handed-hitting Christian Yelich in the third. Ryu took a 91-mph fastball in the right biceps while squaring to bunt in the fourth and remained in the game. He departed after being hit by a Bour comebacker, which put runners on first and third with one out in the sixth.
On came Hatcher, who struck out Realmuto and pinch-hitter Derek Dietrich with 94-mph fastballs. Avilan struck out the side in the seventh, and Jansen struck out all four batters he faced for his eighth save.
