MILWAUKEE — Clayton Kershaw has become a pretty good analyst, frequently donning a headset and chiming in from the dugout during broadcasts on SportsNet LA or national networks like TBS when he is not pitching.
He offered this bit of prognostication in the clubhouse after his start on Monday, though.
“We’re having our team look like what we want our team to look like,” he said of the return of injured players like Mookie Betts this week and the anticipated addition of others in the near future. “I think you’ll see us start to take off here soon.”
Maybe they already have.
The Dodgers hit four home runs in the first four innings on Tuesday night – one each by Shohei Ohtani, Gavin Lux, Will Smith and Andy Pages – and cruised to their fifth consecutive win, a 7-2 defeat of the Milwaukee Brewers.
The win kept the Dodgers (71-49) tied for the best record in baseball, now only with the Cleveland Guardians (the Baltimore Orioles lost Tuesday), and kept the surging Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres at arm’s length.
Smith started the scoring with his solo home run in the second inning. It was a long time coming.
Mired in a three-month slump, Smith hadn’t homered since July 6 – 22 games (for him) and 96 plate appearances ago. Smith hit just .145 between the home runs (and .191 since the end of May). But he added a single and a double in his next two at-bats.
It had been awhile for Pages as well. He lined a two-run home run off the foul pole down the left field line, part of a five-run fourth inning and his first home run since June 18. The rookie outfielder was a .228 hitter in the 40 games between home runs.
Lux’s two-run home run also came in the fourth inning, reaching the second deck in right field and matching his career-high for a season (seven). Five of those seven have come in a 29-game stretch in which Lux has batted .337 (30 for 89).
Ohtani’s 37th home run of the season (a solo homer in the third inning) was his fifth in 11 games this month, even though he only has nine hits in August (and is batting .191 since the end of July).
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Everyone in the Dodgers’ starting lineup had at least one hit in the win.
All of that backed Gavin Stone in his best start since he ended June with a complete-game shutout.
In the six starts that followed, Stone had a 6.91 ERA and allowed at least three runs in five of the six.
Against the Brewers, he allowed just one run on a solo home run by William Contreras (the ninth Stone has allowed in his past seven starts) while striking out six in five innings.
Landon Knack pitched the final four innings – all but punching his ticket back to Triple-A Oklahoma City when the Dodgers need to clear a roster spot for Walker Buehler’s return from the injured list on Wednesday.
More to come on this story.
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