Betts, Taylor & Lux power Dodger rout

Riding another masterful start from Julio Urias, the Dodgers got home runs from Mookie Betts, Chris Taylor, and Gavin Lux to provide the difference at Chavez Ravine on Tuesday night. In a game that was tight in the early innings, Lux hit a huge grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning to blow the game wide open. The 9-1 win was the sixth of the homestand, and it does indeed appear that the Dodgers are rolling again.

Mookie gets the party started early

So far this season, Julio Urias has been a bit of a crap shoot. He’s been brilliant in most of his starts, but kind of meh almost as often. Luckily, it was the “good” Julio who showed up on Tuesday. He set the tone early with a twelve-pitch, 1-2-3 first inning to set the table for Mookie Betts’s leadoff heroics. On the second pitch of the game from Arizona starter Corbin Martin, Mookie launched a 95-mile-an-hour four seamer over the centerfield fence and the Dodgers took a very early lead.

The “good” Julio

The D’backs tied it up in the very next inning. After Andrew Young was hit by a pitch, Snakes shortstop Nick Ahmed ripped a double to center that plated the first Arizona run of the day. It was the only run that Urias would give up the entire night. He pitched 6.2 innings, and surrendered that lone run on three Diamondback hits while striking out eight. He did give up two singles in the seventh, but Blake Treinan was able to put out the fire with just two pitches when he got a Nick Ahmed flyout to end the inning.

CT3’s homer puts Dodgers ahead for good

The Dodgers got all the runs they needed in the blink of an eye. In the bottom of the fifth, Max Muncy ripped a one out single to center. Two pitches later, he was standing at home again, and congratulating Chris Taylor on his two-run homer. Taylor, who had been out of the lineup with a wrist issues for a couple of days, smashed an 0-1 pitch from Martin to deep center. It easily cleared the fence, and the Dodgers never looked back.

Pujols drives in a painful run

The Boys in Blue added a whole lot of insurance in the seventh, started out once again by Muncy and Taylor. Taylor squeezed a single between a Muncy walk and one by Will Smith, and the bases were quickly loaded with nobody out. After a Matt Beaty strikeout, reliever Kevin Ginkel plunked Albert Pujols on the elbow with his first pitch, driving in Muncy with the Dodgers fourth run. It wasn’t how he planned it, but it was the veteran slugger’s second straight game with an RBI.

More like de-Lux, amirite?

After another out, Gavin Lux strode to the plate with two outs. Lux quickly got down 0-2, but after fouling off a good pitch, he didn’t miss the next one. Lux, who has been the Dodgers hottest hitter of late, absolutely creamed a slider to right field. It hugged the line, but landed fair and two rows back for a grand slam. It was the second huge home run from Lux on this homestand. If Lux can continue to produce like this at the bottom end of the lineup, the Dodgers are going to be hard to beat.

Price returns to the mound

Fresh off the IL, David Price came on for clean up duty in the eighth. It was a solid return to the mound, retiring the side on just seven pitches in his first inning of work. After a Will Smith single drove in a ninth run in the bottom of the eighth, Alex Vesia finished up the game in fine fashion, pitching a scoreless ninth, to send the Dodgers to the locker to the strains of Randy Newman.

I love LA. And I love these Dodgers. More of this, please. Kershaw tries to make it seven for eight on the homestand on Wednesday. 7:10 first pitch.