The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres by a 5-0 margin on Saturday evening, putting them back in the win column after their seven-game winning streak was ended on Friday.
Four of L.A.’s five runs came on one swing of the bat when outfielder Teoscar Hernández belted a grand slam to left field in the sixth inning of the victory. Padres pitchers Matt Waldron and Adrian Morejon loaded the bases by walking Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith and Max Muncy.
The grand slam extended Hernández’s gap as the Dodgers’ RBI leader for the season. He has 33 after Saturday, six ahead of Mookie Betts and Ohtani with 27 each. His 33 RBI are tied for second in the Major Leagues, alongside Salvador Perez, Jose Ramirez and Juan Soto.
The RBI chances are part of why Hernández chose to sign with the Dodgers, and he’s been trying to keep it simple in those opportunities, according to Bill Plunkett of The O.C. Register:
“When I signed here, I knew this was gonna happen,” Hernández said. “You have Mookie, Freddie, Ohtani, Will and Muncy, those guys take a lot of walks. I knew I was going to hit behind them and I was going to have a lot of opportunities with men in scoring position or men on base.
“In my mind, I just try not to do too much, not overthink my swing or anything like that. Just get a good pitch to hit and put it in play.”
Hernández has certainly made the most of his opportunities so far this season. He leads the Dodgers in both home runs and RBI and is tied for second in the Majors in both categories as well. Having Betts, Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Smith and Muncy batting ahead of him on most nights has undoubtedly helped rack up his RBI total.
He has been everything the Dodgers hoped he’d be and has only made their lineup even more dangerous by putting an elite power hitter in the No. 6 spot every night.
Dodgers believe Betts can be long-term shortstop
Betts was originally expected to be the Dodgers’ starting second baseman this season, but he moved to shortstop at the end of Spring Training due to Gavin Lux’s defensive struggles at the position.
Betts entered the year with only 16 games of MLB experience at shortstop, but has more than held his own so far and even grades out well by some metrics.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is impressed with how quick Betts has taken to the position.
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