The Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak on Wednesday night by defeating the Colorado Rockies, 7-3, to complete a three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium.
It did not take long for the Dodgers to get on the scoreboard as Joc Pederson launched a leadoff home run in the first inning. Pederson missed Tuesday night’s game after crashing into the wall in right field but returned to the lineup for the series finale as planned.
The leadoff home run was Pederson’s eighth this season, which tied a Dodgers franchise record that he set last year. The mark was previously held by Davey Lopes when he hit seven in 1979.
Pederson wasn’t done there though as he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fourth and hit another home run to give him 32 on the season. Dating back to Sunday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Pederson had a streak of six straight at-bats with an extra-base hit and five of them being home runs.
The other was a double off the top of the right-field wall at Dodger Stadium that just missed going out by a couple of inches. Pederson’s streak came to an end when he struck out to end the sixth inning.
Outside of Pederson’s home runs, the other four runs the Dodgers scored on the night came in the third inning without the luxury of an extra-base hit.
Chris Taylor got the rally started with a single, and Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger and Matt Beaty all drove in a run apiece. Seager’s and Bellinger’s came on base hits up the middle while Turner and Beaty both brought home runs despite not getting the ball out of the infield.
With another win over the Rockies, the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the National League West is now down to just four as they can lock up their seventh straight division title as early as this weekend.
Furthermore, the Dodgers have set an NL record with 250 home runs this season. They surpassed the 2000 Houston Astros that slugged 249. “That’s good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Congratulations to the hitting guys and the players. That’s a good thing.”
