The Los Angeles Dodgers bounced back from being shut out with a 6-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, powered by home runs from Will Smith, Trayce Thompson and Miguel Varags.
Smith got the Dodgers going early with a solo homer in the bottom of the first inning. Thompson then slugged his homer in the second inning, notably coming against Cardinals lefty Jordan Montgomery.
Thompson has reverse splits this season but vowed to improve and doing so could have significant implications on playing time in the postseason.
Vargas added onto the Dodgers’ lead in the second inning as well with his first career home run. The extra-base hit was also Vargas’ first since hitting a double in his MLB debut on Aug. 3.
Watch it fly, Will. pic.twitter.com/eNIkfNEFzQ
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 25, 2022
438 feet! Trayce from long distance! pic.twitter.com/Qatx5CXfRR
— MLB (@MLB) September 25, 2022
The first of many. Congratulations @miggy___13 on your first career home run! pic.twitter.com/W6OFjxI22l
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 25, 2022
Just as it appeared the Dodgers would squander Thompson’s leadoff walk in the fifth inning, Cody Bellinger went to the opposite field for a two-out RBI double. Mookie Betts contributed an RBI single to the small rally.
That run support was more than enough for Clayton Kershaw despite not retiring the side in order in any of his six innings. The Cardinals finished with seven hits, but only had Nolan Arenado’s two-run homer in the sixth to show for it.
Albert Pujols, who was coming off the thrill of reaching 700 career home runs and had the first hit Kershaw allowed in his MLB debut, went 1-for-3 with a single in their matchups Saturday night. Kershaw retired Pujols his first two trips to the plate.
In five starts since returning from the 15-day injured list because of lower back pain, Kershaw has a 1.80 ERA, 0.87 WHIP and held opponents to a .191 batting average.
Dodgers magic numbers
The Dodgers’ magic number for the No. 1 seed in the National League is down to one, and it’s at five for home-field advantage through the World Series.
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