The Dodgers thought they found a spark in their win over the New York Yankees last weekend.
It turns out that after a month of mostly mediocre play from the first-place ball club, they may have just ignited a raging, unforgiving summer fire.
In their encore to a successful showdown in the Bronx, the Dodgers returned home Tuesday night to dismantle the defending World Series champions en route to a 15-2 loss to the Texas Rangers – their most lopsided victory of the entire season.
A week ago, the Dodgers were struggling somewhat through the middle portion of their season. They played 12-12 from May 10 to June 5. They struggled with inconsistencies in the lineup and pitching staff for much of that stretch. And going into their showdown with the Yankees last weekend, they were looking for a “shot in the arm,” as manager Dave Roberts called it.
Five games later, that shock has been received.
The team’s star-studded lineup has come alive again, punctuating Tuesday’s season-high with four home runs in a seven-run sixth inning – the first inning of four at home for the club since September 2021.
A banged-up pitching staff has maintained solid production, getting a strong six-inning, one-run start from previously struggling left-hander James Paxton on Tuesday.
And a month after the Dodgers put together a 14-2 run to open a big lead in the National League West standings, the team now appears to be on the cusp of another exciting stretch in the schedule, with them can enjoy contributions from all levels of the setup. , and all corners of the pitching staff, en route to winning four of their last five games.
Tuesday’s outburst started with a bang, as Will Smith carried a fly ball just deep enough for a three-run home run in the bottom of the first.
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Mookie Betts then broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth inning with a two-out, three-run, bases-loaded double to left field that gave the Dodgers a 6-1 lead.
But it wasn’t until the sixth inning that the club’s blistering form at the plate became overwhelmingly apparent.
In the span of four batters against Rangers reliever Grant Anderson, the Dodgers left the yard three times: a two-run blast from Shohei Ohtani to right, a solo shot from Freddie Freeman in the next at bat, and another two-run homer. by Teoscar Hernández, the reigning NL Player of the Week who is now second in the league with 17 home runs.
With two outs in the inning, Jason Heyward also brought Anderson deep, giving the Dodgers their second five-homer game of the season.
The game had gotten so out of hand at that point that the Rangers put a position player, catcher Andrew Knizner, on the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning and he didn’t give up a run or a hit in 1 2/3 innings.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
