Dodgers regain their summer swagger in Game 1 victory over the Diamondbacks

The night felt like June or July or August, those glorious months when the Dodgers ruled the sport like preordained kings. But it was October, the proving ground for prospective monarchs, and that mattered all the more.

In the first game of the first round of 2017 playoffs, the Dodgers pulped the Diamondbacks in 9-5 victory, galvanized a crowd of 54,707 at Dodger Stadium and re-staked their claim for National League preeminence.

A four-run, first-inning blitz against a jittery pitcher set the tone. Justin Turner bashed a three-run homer, en route to tying a playoff franchise record with a five-RBI night. Corey Seager scored three runs and delivered a tension-easing, RBI triple in the eighth. And Yasiel Puig provided the lasting memory of the evening, wagging his tongue like mad as he dove into third base for a triple, delivering an image to match a game when he collected two hits, drove in two runs and licked at least one bat.

As the Dodgers basked in their 1-0 lead in the best-of-five National League division series, Turner walked into a postgame news conference with Puig. Turner made sure a chair rested between them. The primary topic of conversation appeared to be Puig’s tongue.

“I’m sitting over here,” Turner said. “You might lick me.”

The levity of the summer had seeped into October. The offensive outburst came at an ideal time, as the calendar turned to the postseason.

Handed the lead, Clayton Kershaw towed his team into the seventh inning before a fusillade ended his night. Arizona walloped a quartet of solo home runs against Kershaw, the most allowed by any Dodger in postseason franchise history. Two came in the seventh, on back-to-back pitches to shortstop Ketel Marte and catcher Jeff Mathis.

Kershaw finished with seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. The barrage sent a scare through the ballpark, but could not offset the Dodgers’ early charge.

“We feel good about it,” manager Dave Roberts said. “There are some things we can clean up, but we’ll be ready to turn the page and be ready for [Diamondbacks pitcher] Robbie Ray tomorrow.”

The victory eased Roberts’ mind. Roberts managed this season while harboring grief. Seventeen days before the start of the season, Roberts lost his father, Waymon, a 30-year veteran of the Marines who settled his family outside of San Diego in the 1980s. The loss was unexpected. Roberts spent a few days at home before rejoining the Dodgers to finish spring training.

On Friday morning, Roberts was writing in his journal when he started to think about his father. He broke down as he looked at family photographs. The outburst felt therapeutic, a few hours before entering the playoff crucible. “It felt good to get it out of my system,” Roberts said.

On the scoreboard during batting practice, a video package played highlights from the first five months of the season: Kyle Farmer’s game-winning debut hit, Puig pegging runners at third base, a slew of blasts from rookie sensation Cody Bellinger. The plays looked like dispatches from another decade, from the halcyon days before the team went 1-16 and stumbled toward the finish line.

So the first inning felt like a flashback. On the mound for Arizona was Taijuan Walker, a hulking, 25-year-old right-hander making his first postseason start. He admitted a day earlier that this was the biggest outing of his career — after he admitted he felt so nervous during Wednesday’s wild-card game that he could not even watch.

Friday was far worse. A leadoff single by Chris Taylor opened the bottom of the inning. Seager took a walk, passing on splitters inside and fastballs away. After a pitiable September, the patience shown by Seager offered encouragement for the rest of this month. So did what came next, from Turner.

In the pregame hitters meeting, the Dodgers discussed Walker’s reliance on his fastball. Walker did not hold back. He challenged Turner with a cutter and a fastball at the waist. Turner fouled off both. He settled in to even the count. A 2-2 fastball hummed at Turner’s thighs. Turner parked it 10 rows deep in the left-field bleachers.

“When you get in those situations, and they’ve got to make good pitches, you just try not to do too much, and make sure you get a good pitch,” Turner said. “Luckily tonight, I didn’t miss it.”

On the mound, Walker muttered expletives. In the on-deck circle, Puig celebrated. The two would soon meet, after a single by Bellinger.

Puig saw nine pitches from Walker. He fouled off four of them. After one pitch sprayed out of play, Puig dabbed his tongue on the barrel of his bat. A moment later, he grimaced as the pine tar coursed through his taste buds.

“On the next pitch, I hit a double,” he said. “That’s good. I’m going to keep doing that.”

As Puig experimented with different food groups, Walker stuck with fastballs. He left a 95-mph heater on the outer half of the plate. Puig flicked it into right-center field, setting Bellinger free from first base. Bellinger swam across the plate as Puig partied at second base to expand the lead to four.

The lick amused Puig’s teammates. It was also familiar. “He’s done that all season,” Kershaw said. “It doesn’t seem like the most sanitary thing to do, but if it keeps getting him hits, I hope he does it more.”

It took Walker 38 pitches to record an out. He threw 48 pitches in the inning. He would not return from the dugout. Zack Godley, a potential Game 4 starter, replaced Walker.

Kershaw wobbled in the third. All evening, he flirted with trouble. His curveball was uncooperative. His slider stayed hidden. He leaned on his fastball, touching 95-96 mph in the first inning. By the third, his velocity had dipped, ever so slightly, and Arizona outfielder A.J. Pollock smashed a 93-mph fastball into the left-field pavilion.

“No excuses,” Kershaw said. “I gave up too many home runs tonight.”

The offense eased Kershaw’s burden in the fourth. Logan Forsythe led off with a single against Godley. Kershaw bunted him to second base. After a walk by Taylor, Seager chopped a grounder to the left side of the infield. The baseball eluded the glove of Marte by inches. The distance proved large enough for Forsythe to jet home. Two more runs scored on a single by Turner and a groundout by Puig.

Kershaw needed the cushion. In the sixth, he hung a curveball to outfielder J.D. Martinez. The ball disappeared into the night. Kershaw finished the sixth with 92 pitches.

The five-run lead enticed Roberts to give Kershaw one more inning. The decision backfired. After Adam Rosales lined out to center field, Marte laced an elevated slider over the left-field fence. Roberts stuck with Kershaw against Mathis, a light-hitting catcher with 13 home runs since 2013. Mathis swatted his first-ever postseason homer on a first-pitch fastball.

“I just didn’t have much left,” Kershaw said, adding, “Obviously, a frustrating way to end it, but thankfully we had a big lead.”

Turner praised his team’s ace for the outing. The home runs did not phase him.

“Yeah, he gave up four solo homers, but who cares?” Turner said. “When you have a lead like that, it’s about attacking guys, not giving up free bases and pounding the zone.”

The three-run advantage looked like it would expand in the bottom of the seventh. Puig hit a grounder into the left-field corner, where Martinez shuffled around trying to field it. Puig barreled past second base and opened his jaws so his tongue dangled.

After he dove into the base, he saw his teammates roaring. He screamed back at them, and wagged his tongue.

“I don’t know why,” Puig said. “Maybe I thought there was ice cream in front of me.”

Puig did not score after the triple, but Seager and Turner tacked on a pair of runs an inning later. It was enough to cruise to victory, in a manner that once felt so familiar for this club.

Next to Puig on the podium, Turner dissolved into hysterics as Puig re-enacted his celebration, imploring Turner to try it.

“J.T. likes it,” Puig said. “That’s the reason he’s laughing right now. How did I do it? How did I do it? Look at me.”

Puig recreated that indelible image once more. His red-faced teammate could only smile.

“That’s,” Turner said, “exactly how he did it.”

andy.mccullough@latimes.com

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