Arenado’s 40th homer not enough to top LA

LOS ANGELES — Vin Scully Appreciation Night started with an emotional pregame tribute for the retiring Hall of Fame announcer and ended with a 5-2 Dodgers win over the Rockies on Friday night, cutting their magic number to win the National League West to two while extending the lead over the Giants to seven games with eight to play.

The NL West champion will play the NL East champion in the NL Division Series. The Dodgers trail Washington for home-field advantage by 1 1/2 games.

Joc Pederson and Andre Ethier hit back-to-back home runs, Ross Stripling (5-8) pitched three scoreless innings after taking over for injured starter Scott Kazmir and Kenley Jansen picked up save No. 47. The Dodgers scored two runs off starter Jon Gray (10-9) on Yasmani Grandal’s first-inning bloop single with the bases loaded. Gray, whose first-inning ERA is 6.75, struck out 10 with three walks and a hit batter in four innings. Pederson’s home run was his 24th, while it was the first for Ethier, who missed most of the season with a broken leg.

Nolan Arenado slugged his 40th home run off Josh Fields in the sixth inning and Tom Murphy singled home the second Rockies run. Kazmir, activated off the disabled list (neck injury) to make this start, left after one inning with a right intercostal muscle spasm, essentially ruling him out of postseason consideration.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Collecting the Toles: For the second time in a week, Andrew Toles threw out a baserunner. This time it was Arenado, who was trying to score from second on Carlos Gonzalez’s two-out single to left field in the first inning. Statcast™ …

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