The Los Angeles Dodgers brought out the big sticks for the second straight night at Dodger Stadium, slugging six home runs to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-3.
In the month of June, Joc Pederson and Max Muncy became the first pair of Dodgers teammates to hit 10 home runs each in the same month. They are picking up where they left off in July as they led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back home runs off of Pirates starter Ivan Nova to give Clayton Kershaw an early lead to work with.
Muncy wasn’t done there though, coming up in his second at-bat in the third inning and taking Nova deep once again, with this one barely getting over Gregory Polanco’s outstretched glove in right field.
Muncy was not called up until the middle of April, but he still leads the team with 20 home runs on the season, ranking second in the National League behind only Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado and Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper.
After Yasmani Grandal barely missed a home run by hitting a triple off the wall to lead off the next inning, the very next batter, Chris Taylor, made sure not to miss his, hitting his 10th of the year. He became the seventh Dodger with at least 10 home runs, which is the most in franchise history before the All-Star break.
Grandal got redemption in his next at-bat as well, hitting his 12th home run of the season to deep right-center. Then for good measure, Kiké Hernandez came up in the sixth and hit the team’s sixth long ball of the night to cap off the 8-3 victory.
All of those runs were more than enough for Kershaw, who tossed six innings of two-run ball to earn his first victory since April 15.
As part of our efforts to help you understand how we handle the personal information you share with us, and in preparation for the new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we’ve updated our Privacy & Cookies Policy. The updated Privacy & Cookies Policy will take effect on May 22, 2018. By using our services on or after that date, you’ll be agreeing to our updated Privacy & Cookies Policy. We recommend that you read our updated Privacy & Cookies Policy in full.
