After avoiding being swept by the Colorado Rockies over the weekend, the Los Angeles Dodgers welcomed the Pittsburgh Pirates to town beginning Monday night.
The Dodgers carried their hard-hitting offense from the day before over, resulting in a 17-1 route over the Pirates to get the week off to a good start.
The scoring got started in the bottom of the first inning when Cody Bellinger showed off his speed to beat out an infield single to drive in a run. He later scored on a bad throwback from the catch that got passed Pirates pitcher Nick Kingham.
Kingham’s rough day was just getting started there though, as he gave up two more runs in the third on a solo home run by Bellinger and then a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded by Yasiel Puig.
The fourth inning was Kingham’s worst though with him not being able to record an out. Joc Pederson and Max Muncy began the inning with back-to-back homers, followed by a double by Justin Turner to knock Kingham out of the game.
Later in the inning, Matt Kemp, Yasmani Grandal, Chris Taylor and Puig had four straight hits, ballooning the Dodgers lead to 10-1 and effectively putting the game out of reach.
Los Angeles added to its lead in the fifth inning as the hit parade continued. Turner and Kemp both singled, plus a Bellinger walk to load up the bases. Grandal drove in the first run with a walk of his own, and then Taylor and Puig both singled to extend the lead to 13-1.
It didn’t stop there though, with Kemp drilling a three-run home run to left in the sixth inning to cap off his big night. He went 5-for-5 with four RBI, giving him eight hits in his last eight at-bats.
The Dodgers batted around in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, making the first team in seven years to bat around in three straight innings.
The Pirates only run off the day against Dodgers starter Alex Wood came in the second inning on a solo home run by Elias Diaz. Wood has been really solid in recent weeks, and that was again the case on Monday with him tossing six innings of one-run ball to earn his fifth win of the season.
On his 22nd birthday, Dodgers rookie Caleb Ferguson came in and tossed three shutout innings of relief after Wood, earning his first career Major League save.
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