The Los Angeles Dodgers took advantage of a shaky Houston Astros pitching staff to end their home run drought at six games and pick up a second consecutive win.
The Dodgers’ power drought had been their longest stretch since going eight games without a homer in July 2014.
Dodgers 8, Astros 3: key takeaways
Dodgers home runs
Alex Freeland’s opposite-field shot in the second inning gave the Dodgers their first home run since Shohei Ohtani’s blast on April 26.
Kyle Tucker made it a multi-homer game for the Dodgers by lining one out to right field in the third inning.
Kyle Tucker homecoming
Tucker’s home run was part of a productive night on a personal level. A pop-up to shallow left field dropped in for a two-out RBI single in the first inning that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead and extended Tucker’s on-base streak to 11 games.
Tucker finished 2-for-5 with two RBI in his first game in Houston with the Dodgers. The 29-year-old entered the night batting .276/.353/.516 with 75 doubles, 58 home runs and 202 RBI in his career at Daikin Park.
He was loudly booed throughout the night, which is curious considering the Astros traded Tucker to the Chicago Cubs before the start of the 2025 season and prior to that he helped them win the 2022 World Series.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto settles in
Coming off an uncharacteristic outing, Yoshinobu Yamamoto labored in the first inning as he threw 28 pitches and allowed the Astros to mount their own two-out rally en route to taking a 2-1 lead. Houston scored their second run on a wild pitch that appeared to be a tough ruling from the official scorer.
But he largely shut them down from that point on, save for a solo home run by Zach Cole in the fifth inning. Yamamoto faced just one over the minimum after the opening frame as he got through six innings and set a season high with eight strikeouts.
Threw 28 pitches in first inning, then just 32 to get through the next three innings.
Offense lifts off
Manager Dave Roberts said at the start of the road trip he thought the Dodgers’ offense was primed for a turnaround from their recent struggles. That was met by consecutive losses and a bevy of double plays before the Dodgers started to reward that confidence.
Everyone in the Dodgers lineup but Shohei Ohtani and Max Muncy had at least one hit in Monday’s win. Included in that was Will Smith and Alex Freeland tying for the team lead with three hits each. Smith had two doubles and Freeland reached base a career-high four times.
Ohtani made the rare decision of taking batting practice on the field before the game, and although it didn’t translate to immediate success, he worked two walks and beat out a would-be inning-ending double play to drive in a run and lead to another when Freddie Freeman followed with a double.
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