The Los Angeles Dodgers were a bit sloppy in the field but put together two big innings that carried them to a 9-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants that extended their winning streak to five games.
Cody Bellinger and Corey Seager opened the scoring in the second inning with back-to-back home runs. It marked a 17th time this season the Dodgers hit consecutive homers, which set a new National League record.
The blast was Bellinger’s 47th, leaving him two shy of matching Shawn Green’s franchise record.
Gavin Lux drove an RBI triple off the brick wall in right field, and Joc Pederson hit the Dodgers’ third home run of the inning to extend their lead to 5-0.
After Johnny Cueto returned from Tommy John surgery with two straight starts of five scoreless innings, he’s now allowed four and five runs his last two times out. The Giants bullpen backed him with a stretch of five shutout innings, but their offense failed to mount a rally.
They capitalized on a leadoff walk in the second inning to score a run on a sacrifice fly, and did so again in the third. San Francisco had two runners reach in both the fourth and fifth innings but couldn’t take advantage.
Although Walker Buehler wasn’t efficient, he collected eight strikeouts over five innings. Tinkering with his mechanics didn’t necessarily pay off as he issued a season-high four walks.
Yimi Garcia entered with two outs in the sixth inning and induced a soft ground ball to the right side of the infield but dropped the toss from Max Muncy, leaving the bases loaded. Garcia then preserved the Dodgers’ lead by retiring Stephen Vogt.
Two-run singles by Will Smith and Kiké Hernandez in the eighth broke the game open and allowed Tony Gonsolin and Josh Sborz to comfortably close out the game with one inning each. Though, Gonsolin needed to work out of a bases-loaded jam after issuing two walks and hitting a batter.
The Dodgers now need just one more win to break the record for most in L.A. franchise history and are two from setting the organization’s all-time mark.
