The Los Angeles Dodgers reached 50 home runs hit during the month of June during Thursday’s win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, breaking a franchise record. Brooklyn held the previous best mark with 49 homers hit in July and August in 1953.
“The at-bats, collectively, have been very good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Thursday. “The results have obviously been very good. I think the focus, keeping the line moving and winning pitches, I think that’s resulted in the longball.”
The previous Los Angeles record was 45 home runs hit during July of the 2004 season. The Dodgers eclipsed that Wednesday with a home run from Trayce Thompson. Yasmani Grandal also homered in the loss.
Los Angeles went over the top in the Freeway Series finale, behind home runs from Yasiel Puig, Chase Utley and Joc Pederson. The homer was Pederson’s eighth this season and sixth since returning from the seven-day concussion disabled list.
Puig’s 15th home run this season left him one shy of matching his output during a 2014 All-Star season. Utley now has five home runs this season but isn’t yet on track to surpass the 14 he hit 138 games last year.
While it’s been a collective effort during the month, the Dodgers have been paced by Cody Bellinger’s 13 home runs. Just as Clayton Kershaw surmised when informed of the record. “I bet Belly had something to do with that,” he said.
“We’ve got guys with a ton of pop up and down the lineup. We’ve got guys you can’t really make a mistake to and think you’ll just get away with a single. Knowing from experience, that’s not fun. Knowing that any mistake can go yard at any time is a good feeling for us, and probably not a good feeling for the other team.”
Pederson was more much succinct with his thoughts on the mark. “I think we have a lot of good hitters,” he said. “Hitting is contagious.”
After Bellinger, Pederson and Puig are tied for second-most home runs in June with six, Grandal and Corey Seager have each slugged five, Kiké Hernandez and Justin Turner have both hit four home runs, Chris Taylor has three, Utley two, and Logan Forsythe and Trayce Thompson each have one.
