Jeff Birney
Dodgers Dominate Braves in 8-2 Victory
The sloppy Atlanta defense certainly helped, but a dominating performance from Rich Hill and hot Dodger bats led to a smooth victory in Atlanta Thursday. Hill pitched seven innings, gave up no runs and struck out eight. He discussed his full return to form post-game, attributing it to slight mechanical changes and the callous that has formed to remedy his blister-prone finger.
Among Thursday’s highlights was Manny Machado’s first homerun in Dodger Blue – a 426’ bomb according to Statcast™ with a 108+ mph exit velocity.
The game had remained scoreless through four, with Chris Taylor grounding out to get Matt Kemp home in the top of the fifth. The Dodgers continued to score in the fifth, sixth (Machado’s HR), seventh and eighth innings.
The Braves only runs were had from Ronald Acuna Jr’s 2 run HR off Daniel Hudson in the bottom of the eighth.
The Dodgers remain on top in the tight NL West, 1.5 games up on the D-Backs who’ve split their last 10 games and dropped another one to Chicago on Thursday.
Clayton Kershaw takes the mound Friday against Atlanta. Game time is 4:35 pm, PST.
