For the second consecutive night, the Los Angeles Dodgers cruised to a lopsided victory over the rival San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. The club tallied nine runs on 13 hits, receiving contributions from a multitude of players in the lineup.
Chris Taylor, filling in for the injured Corey Seager at shortstop, enjoyed his finest performance of the season against Giants left-hander Drew Pomeranz. He slugged two home runs on the night and additionally accumulated a team-high four RBI.
Also enjoying a memorable performance was Kyle Garlick, who mashed his first career MLB home run in the second inning. According to Statcast, the blast traveled an estimated 413 feet over the fence in center field at an exit velocity of 100 mph.
Garlick overall tallied two hits in three at-bats and improved his on-base plus slugging to an impressive .953 on the season. He was one of three Dodgers players to homer against the Giants pitching staff on Wednesday, joining Taylor and Cody Bellinger.
Garlick was thrilled to finally hit his first home run all while helping the Dodgers to their Major League-leading 50th win of the season, via Michael Duarte of NBC L.A.:
“It was awesome. Being able to help the team produce some runs and being able to do it in front of my parents, it was a great experience.”
The 27-year-old had already received his home run ball and plans to give it to his father:
“I got the ball and I already handed it off for safekeeping. … It was amazing. I told him when I was in high school that I was going to give him my first hit. Being able to give him first hit and first home run is a special moment.”
The Dodgers fan who caught Garlick’s home run ball most famously snagged Justin Turner’s walk-off shot against the Chicago Cubs in Game 2 of the 2017 National League Division Series.
In order to obtain his first career home run ball, Garlick exchanged autographed memorabilia and took photos with the fan after the game.
Garlick became the fourth Dodgers player to hit his first career MLB home run this month, joining Walker Buehler, Will Smith and Matt Beaty.
Like Garlick, Smith had to work out an agreement with the fan who caught his ball. Though in that instance the required compensation was an autographed Bellinger bat, as the trade proved beneficial for both sides.
