The Los Angeles Dodgers met up with the Athletics for another interleague matchup and the start of the series at Sutter Health Park.
This is likely the only time in history the Dodgers will play a series at Sutter Health Park, with the A’s set to move to Las Vegas in 2028. The extreme-hitters park has led to some high-scoring games this season, and this was another.
The Dodgers were also in their alternate blue road uniforms and continued their winning streak in them. When wearing the blue jerseys, the Dodgers have now won six straight games.
Dodgers 9, Athletics 4: key takeaways
Battle of Max Muncys
Max Muncy (Dodgers) and Max Muncy (Athletics) faced off for the first time in their careers at the MLB level. Both players started at third base for their respective teams, hit seventh in the batting order, were born on Aug. 25, and began their professional careers after being drafted by the A’s.
It was just the fourth time since 1900 that two players with the same name started at the same position and in the same spot in the batting order in a game. The last occurrence came in 2000, when Alex González (Toronto Blue Jays) and Alex González (Florida Marlins) faced each other on June 2 and June 4.
The first time it happened was on May 11, 1999 when Bobby Jones (New York Mets) played against Bobby Jones (Colorado Rockies).
The Dodgers’ Muncy went 2-for-5 with a home run, one run scored and two RBI, which included driving in the first run of the game. The Athletics’ Muncy went 1-for-3 with a run scored and walk, and his hit was a single off the third base bag in the direction of the Dodgers’ Muncy.
Dodgers offense slugs three home runs and 17 hits
The Dodgers scored most of their runs as a result of the long ball with Muncy (solo), Andy Pages (two-run) and Shohei Ohtani (three-run) all leaving the yard.
However, they started the scoring with some small ball as Teoscar Hernández hit a leadoff single in the second, Kyle Tucker followed with a single that was lost in the sun, and Muncy added a single of his own to make it 1-0. With one out, Dalton Rushing doubled the lead with another single.
Muncy tied the game at 3-3 with his solo homer in the fourth inning, and after a double from Miguel Rojas, Pages launched his two-run homer that put the Dodgers up 5-3.
Ohtani broke the game open in the sixth inning after a single from Rojas and walk from Rushing. Ohtani’s home run was his 18th of the season and traveled 432 feet at 112.3 mph, his second-longest homer of the season.
Freddie Freeman drove in the ninth run with an RBI single in the eighth inning after singles from Rushing and Ohtani.
The Dodgers tied their season-high with 17 hits in the game. Eight players in their lineup had at least two hits, while Mookie Betts was the only one from the starting lineup to finish with one hit.
Eric Lauer turns in quality start
The start of the game was rough for Eric Lauer, who dealt with a lot of unlucky hits, but things settled down and he turned in a quality start.
Lauer allowed a leadoff home run to Colby Thomas in the second inning, and then with one out, he allowed three-straight softly hit singles that tied the game at 2-2. Another run scored when the Dodgers were unable to turn a double play due to the soft ground ball, and the A’s were up 3-2.
From there, Lauer tossed four consecutive scoreless innings and pitched out of a few jams. The A’s had the bases loaded in the third, but Lauer recorded a groundout to end the threat.
The fourth and fifth innings were both clean, and then in the sixth, Lauer allowed a pair of two-out singles before getting out of the inning.
He finished his outing allowing three runs on nine hits over six innings while striking out two and walking one.
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