He Dodgers They thought they had found a spark during their series victory over the New York Yankees Last weekend.
It turns out that after a month of lackluster play from the first-place club, they may have actually lit a furious, relentless fire over the summer.
In their encore to a successful showdown in the Bronx, the Dodgers returned home to dismantle the defending World Series champions on Tuesday night, posting a 15-2 victory over the Texas Rangers – their most lopsided victory all season.
“It was great,” gardener Teoscar Hernandez saying. “We have been playing very good baseball. We’re having good at-bats. And that’s why we’ve been producing a lot lately.”
It has come as a stark contrast to his form just a week ago, when the Dodgers were struggling in the middle of their season. They went 12-12 from May 10 to June 5. They battled lineup and pitching staff inconsistencies for much of that span. And going into their matchup with the Yankees, they were looking for a “shot in the arm,” as manager Dave Roberts said before that series.
Five games later, that shock has been received. The star-studded lineup has come back to life, highlighted by Tuesday’s season-high scoring output with four home runs in a seven-run sixth inning, the club’s first four-home run streak since September 2021.
A banged-up staff has maintained solid production, posting a strong six-inning, one-run start Tuesday from the previously struggling lefty. James Paxton.
And a month after the Dodgers went on a 14-2 run to open a big lead in the National League West, they appear to be on the verge of another scorching stretch on the schedule, enjoying contributions from all parts of the lineup and from all corners. of the pitching staff, on pace to win four of five games through Wednesday.
“We got a lead and then we kept adding to it,” Roberts said. “I just thought we won a lot of at-bats.”
In fact, Tuesday’s explosion began with a bang, when Will Smith he carried a fly ball deep enough for a three-run homer in the first inning. Mookie Betting then opened the scoring in the fourth, hitting a three-run double with two outs to left field for a 6-1 lead.
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“That,” Roberts said, “was probably the big hit of the night.”
However, it was not until the sixth inning that the club’s excellent form at the plate reached its peak. In a span of seven batters against Rangers reliever Grant Anderson, the Dodgers left the yard four times.
Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run home run to right field. Freddie Freeman he added a solo blast in the next at-bat. Hernandez, the reigning National League player of the week after his big series against the Yankees, hit a two-run homer for his 17th, second most in the National League. And with two outs, Jason Hayward He hit another long ball to right.
Did the Dodgers, who have celebrated home runs by sprinkling sunflower seeds on each other in the dugout, have enough to last the inning?
“Thank God we have many in the dugout,” said Hernández, who introduced the ritual to the team this season. “It’s fun when that happens.”
When asked what has changed in the lineup over the past week, after the Dodgers averaged just 3.7 runs in their previous 24 games, Roberts pointed to several factors in the wake of Tuesday’s win.
The big hitters at the top of the order are hitting again, highlighted Tuesday by nine combined hits and 11 RBIs from Betts, Ohtani, Freeman, Smith and Hernandez.
The bottom of the order is also stressing out pitchers, thanks to the recent resurgence of role players like Gavin Lux and Andy Pageswho had two hits on Tuesday.
Most of all, though, Roberts said he’s seeing more from his hitters, proudly highlighting Lux’s two-strike single in the fourth inning, a hit that led to Betts’ three-run double, as the latest example of a better conviction in the at-bat. and quality.
“You’re not going to have your A-swing every night,” Roberts said. “But you should have (the will to) compete. And tonight I saw that. I have seen it in the last four or five games.”
The question is whether the Dodgers can sustain this and turn a hot week into another whirlwind stretch of their season.
“I hope so,” Freeman said, evading the situation. “I just wish baseball was more of a guarantee and I could say yes.”
“I think so,” Roberts repeated, more definitively. “Just what I saw in the second half of that trip, I think there’s a lot of good things happening offensively. Tonight everything certainly went well. And I can see us keeping this up for a while.”
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.