Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Home sweet, homestand! After a disappointing 3-3 road trip, there was nothing like a little home cookin’ for these Dodgers. They finished up a 5-1 homestand with a convincing 10-5 victory over the Angels, a win in which the usual suspects all participated, plus some unexpected length from Michael Grove on the mound. So yeah, it was a good night at the Ravine.
In a sentence I’ve already written ten times this season, Mookie Betts started things off with a lead-off home run in the first inning. Yes, again. The Dodgers’ resident superstar is ending the first half on one heck of a bender. In his last fifteen games, Betts has hit nine long balls and has an OPS of 1.509. Simply insane how hot he is right now.
While the first inning was fun, it was the second where the Dodgers really put this game away. Max Muncy led off the inning with a solo shot of his own, which must have felt good after being robbed of a homer by Jo Adell in the previous game. After a couple of outs and a couple of baserunners came the fateful decision that so many opposing managers have faced against this lineup: Betts or Freeman, pick your poison.
Angel skipper Phil Nevin decided to walk Mookie Betts intentionally and load up the bases with two outs. And it almost worked out. Freddie Freeman hit a ball into left that Luis Rengifo got a glove on, but just could not hold onto. It bounded past him for a two-run double and the Dodgers were off to the races. Will Smith then came through with an RBI single that scored Betts and Freeman, and Nevin’s plan had officially blown up in his face. Ouch!
Now leading 6-0, bulk guy Michael Grove just had to pump strikes the rest of the way. Though he got touched up for four runs late in the outing, he did what he needed to do to get the Dodgers into the W column. His line for the game: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. A good outing for the rookie.
The four runs surrendered by Grove didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things because the Dodgers kept adding on throughout the game. In addition to the early Betts and Muncy blasts, Freddie Freeman, J.D. Martinez, and David Peralta all homered as well as the Dodgers added four more runs during the middle innings. In all it was ten runs on ten hits, the second straight game in which the Dodgers hit double digits in both categories.
“We’ve had ups and we’ve had downs, and this group just came together,” said Freddie Freeman after the game. “And I felt like, [with] how we responded the last couple of weeks, we’ve got a pretty special group.”
Indeed, after a very mediocre June, the Dodgers seem to have caught fire in this last homestand, winning five of six to end the first half of the year at 51-38, which is the highest they’ve been over .500 all year. And, if the Pirates can help a brother out and beat the D-backs on Sunday, the Dodgers will enter the ASB with a flat-footed tie with Arizona for first place in the NL West. Which, all things considered, is a pretty darn good place to be.
“Whether they’re veterans or young players, there’s a lot of new players to this organization,” said manager Dave Roberts, summing up the team in the first half. “So I think they all felt that they were in the same bucket, and our guys that have been here received them really well. … I just feel good with the relationships that have been built.”
Now let’s see if that momentum can carry over into the second half of the year, which starts with a three-city road trip against the suddenly hot Mets, the surging Orioles, and the first place Rangers. Rest up, boys. That is a gauntlet you’ll have to pass through before you get home again.
