On Sunday the Los Angeles Dodgers faced a starting pitcher who was making his Major League debut for the second time in one week’s span. They made sure to capitalize on the opportunity to welcome each rookie with a barrage of early hits.
Mike Mayers became the first starter not in their regular rotation that the St. Louis Cardinals turned to. The club was forced to call up the right-hander after using Tyler Lyons out of the bullpen for 4.2 innings during Friday’s 16-inning game.
Chase Utley led off with a base hit to center field, which was then followed by a Corey Seager infield single.
Justin Turner worked a full count and walked on the seventh pitch of his plate appearance to load the bases. Adrian Gonzalez then cleared them with a no-doubt grand slam to straightaway center field field, video of which is provided by the Dodgers’ Twitter account:
? Lighting up the big stage in a GRAND way. ?https://t.co/dPzAVhiywz
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 25, 2016
The grand slam was Gonzalez’s fifth of his career, and second home run in as many games. What’s more, Gonzalez now has nine homers this season and 299 in his career. Mayers went on to allow nine runs and was chased after just 1.1 innings pitched.
