The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched a playoff spot for the sixth consecutive season Saturday afternoon, using an RBI triple from Manny Machado to break an eighth-inning tie en route to a 10-6 victory over the host San Francisco Giants.
The Dodgers (90-71) overcame a rare subpar effort from Clayton Kershaw to officially eliminate St. Louis (88-73) from contention in the National League wild-card race. The Cardinals had won earlier in the day against the Chicago Cubs to temporarily stay alive. Later in the evening, Los Angeles tied Colorado atop the NL West after the Rockies fell 12-2 at home against Washington. The winner of the division will face Atlanta in the NL Division Series.
The NL West runner-up will meet with the Cubs or Milwaukee Brewers in the wild-card game on Tuesday night.
“I try to do everything possible,” Machado said of living up to expectations. “I try to help everyone, help the young kids, help the ballclub in whatever way I can, bring my knowledge to the table. Like I said before, this ain’t over. This is just a little tease.”
After the Giants had rallied into a 5-5 tie with a two-run fifth inning against Kershaw, the Dodgers got their go-ahead run in the eighth after Chris Taylor led off with a single off San Francisco’s sixth pitcher, Mark Melancon (1-4).
Two outs and a wild pitch later, Machado went the other way for a triple high off the wall in right field, easily plating Taylor with the go-ahead run.
The Dodgers broke the game open with four in the ninth on consecutive two-out singles by Enrique Hernandez and pinch hitter Matt Kemp, an RBI single by Taylor, a two-run double by Max Muncy and a run-scoring infield hit by Cody Bellinger, producing a 10-5 lead.
Alex Wood (9-7) was credited with the win after retiring all four batters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings.
Kershaw was more productive with his bat than with his arm, contributing a two-RBI single to a three-run fourth inning after the Dodgers had fallen behind 3-2. The staff ace went five innings, allowing five runs and eight hits. He struck out four and did not walk a batter. The five runs allowed were a career high for Kershaw in 44 starts against the Giants.
Joc Pederson and Yasiel Puig hit solo homers for the Dodgers against Giants starter Dereck Rodriguez, staking Kershaw to an early 2-0 lead. The homers were No. 25 for Pederson, No. 23 for Puig.
Rodriguez was pulled three batters into the fourth inning, charged with five runs and six hits in three-plus innings. He walked three and struck out one.
Hernandez collected three hits, while Machado, Taylor, Muncy, Puig and Yasmani Grandal had two apiece for the Dodgers, who outhit the Giants 18-9.
Hunter Pence had two doubles, and Joe Panik drove in three runs for the Giants, who lost for the eighth time in their last nine games.

Nats drop Rockies into
NL West tie with Dodgers
Trea Turner and Juan Soto homered, and the Washington Nationals knocked the Colorado Rockies out of sole possession of first place in the National League West with a 12-2 win in Denver on Saturday night. Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez homered for the Rockies, who fell into a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers with their first loss in nine games. The Dodgers beat San Francisco earlier Saturday.
Colorado (90-71) has clinched at least the second NL wild card and can win its first division crown with a victory Sunday and a Los Angeles loss, or by beating the Dodgers in a tiebreaker game Monday in Los Angeles if needed.
A loss Sunday and a win by the Dodgers would give Los Angeles its sixth straight division title and send Colorado on the road for the NL wild-card game at either Milwaukee or the Chicago Cubs.
Stephen Strasburg tossed six strong innings, and Adam Eaton had three hits for Washington (82-79).
The Nationals took the drama out of the game early against Jon Gray (12-9). Eaton and Turner led off the first with singles, and Soto drove them both home with a two-out double to left. Soto finished with four RBIs and scored twice.
Washington added to the lead in the second inning. Wilmer Difo led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on Eaton’s single. Turner followed with his 19th home run of the season to make it 5-0.
Gray allowed five runs on seven hits in just two innings. Gonzalez got one back when he led off the bottom of the second with his 16th homer, but Soto answered with his 22nd in the fifth to make it 6-1.
Arenado hit his 35th in the sixth inning, but the Nationals scored three more in the seventh, two in the eighth and one in the ninth. It was more than enough for Strasburg (10-7). He allowed two runs on five hits and struck out seven in his last start of the season. Rockies outfielder David Dahl went 0-for-3, ending his homer streak at five games.