Dodgers have a home run party

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Los Angeles Dodgers have a hitting roster that will be very scary to deal with come October. Right now, the lineup that manager Dave Roberts has at his disposal is incredibly formidable. 

The Texas Rangers found that out in the first game of a three-game series against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers punched the visiting Rangers dead in the mouth when they secured a 15-2 win at Dodger Stadium on June 11. 

It was interesting that the Dodgers would unleash their offensive arsenal on the Rangers considering the team was honoring pitcher Joe Kelly on the same evening. The bats of the Dodgers were lively as Los Angeles pounded out 14 hits and hit five home runs in the rout. 

Catcher Will Smith started the hit parade with a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to give the Dodgers a quick 3-0 lead. Shortstop Mookie Betts put the Dodgers in firm control of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with a base-clearing double. 

And just like that, the Dodgers had built a 6-1 advantage over the Rangers. They weren’t done. The Dodgers added a run in the fifth inning to push their lead to 7-1. The bottom fell out for the Rangers in the sixth inning when the Dodgers went off for seven runs. 

The inning was punctuated with the Dodgers hitting four home runs and putting the game out of reach. When it comes to hitting, no other team can boast the roster the Dodgers have. Designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is the No. 6 hitter in Major League Baseball. 

Betts is No. 10. If you go on down the line in short order, first baseman Freddie Freeman is No. 12, with Smith rounding out the pecking order at the No. 14 spot. Roberts and the Dodgers have always had great hitters. So getting the maximum amount of productivity is nothing new. 

When Roberts and the Dodgers won the World Series in 2020, Smith, Betts, Max Muncy, Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger, and Corey Seager (now with the Texas Rangers) proved to be lethal as a lineup. 

But what Robers have now in Betts, Smith, Ohtani, Freeman, Jason Heyward, and Teoscar Hernandez, is ridiculous. The Dodgers’ richness in hitting talent came to fruition in that sixth inning.

Ohtani, in his first season with the Dodgers, got the party started when he crushed a pitch thrown by Texas pitcher Grant Anderson out of the ballpark for a two-run home run. 

Not to be left out, Freeman came right behind Ohtani and blasted a solo home run, giving Dodger fans more to cheer about. After being tagged by Ohtani and Freeman, Anderson, who gave up six hits in his short night of work (0.2 innings), gave up this third home run to Hernandez for a two-run shot. 

Heyward finished the Dodgers’ monster inning with a home run off Anderson to deep right field. With the Dodgers crushing it on the offensive end, the steady pitching by James Paxson gets lost in the shuffle. Paxson put on a stellar performance, going six full innings and surrendering just two hits to collect his sixth win (6-1) on the season. 

A couple of interesting notes about the Dodgers and their deep-hitting roster. First, with Betts, Freeman, and Ohtani being the more heralded trio on the team, Hernandez leads the team in home runs after his blast against the Rangers. 

Hernandez picked up his 17th home run on the season. Ohatani collected his 16th dinger on the season while getting walked twice.  

Top Image Photo Caption: Designated hitter Shohei Ohtani celebrates hitting a two-run home against the Texas Rangers at Dodger Stadium on June 11, 2024. Ohtani’s home run was one of four the Dodgers hit in the sixth inning of a 15-2 win. Photo credit: Dennis J. Freeman/News4usonline