by Cary Osborne
Maybe it was the Chicago series — a disappointing two games in April when the Dodgers lost both and had to head back to Los Angeles with their tails tucked between their legs.
But it was during those two games when the bear woke up. It has roared since.
Saturday’s 18–2 win at Dodger Stadium was one of the loader roars. It’s the most runs and biggest run differential win for the Dodgers ever against the New York Yankees — regular or postseason.
The Dodger offense punished the Yankees with a season-high 21 hits, five home runs and 28 baserunners by way of hit or walk.
Max Muncy hit two home runs — career homers №200 and 201. He tied a career high with seven RBI in the game.
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Hyeseong Kim added his second career homer. Andy Pages hit a solo home run in the seventh. Dalton Rushing hit his first career homer — a three-run blast off position player Pablo Reyes in the eighth. Tommy Edman contributed four hits.
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The Yankees’ two runs came from two Aaron Judge solo home runs.
The Dodgers batted around in the first inning and sent eight batters up in the second. By the end of the second inning, they led 10–0.
“We’ve been pretty steady for several weeks. We’ve been scoring a lot of runs. We’ve been putting together a lot of really good at-bats,” Muncy said. “That’s all we can do on the offensive side, is try to stay within our game. And you’re gonna have bad games that you’re gonna run into a pitcher that has his A game. … (But) for us, just being as steady as we’ve been, it’s been been pretty huge.”
This game continued a torrid stretch for the Dodger offense that dates back to Chicago in late April.
Back on April 22, the Dodgers reached double digits in runs for the first time this season. It was a game they led, trailed, led and lost in the 10th inning to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. They collected six runs and 11 hits the next day in Chicago and dropped that one as well.
But from April 22 to Saturday, the Dodgers have scored at least 10 runs in a game eight times. They have reached double digits in hits 19 times in the 35 games.
Since April 22, they have scored 240 runs. The next closest Major League teams are the Cubs and Tigers with 189. That’s a 51-run differential.
The Dodgers are averaging 6.9 runs per game in that span.
Muncy said it wasn’t one game or one series that turned things around. He said it was more of an offense finding its identity.
He pointed to Mookie Betts beginning the season with a stomach ailment and Freddie Freeman going on the injured list in early April. They returned and dominoes started falling — Shohei Ohtani had a 15-home run May, Andy Pages has been one of the National League’s most consistent hitters, and Will Smith and Teoscar Hernández have been constants in the lineup.
Two of the latest dominoes have been Muncy and Kim.
Muncy has had a complete reset over his last 15 games. The line of demarcation for him is May 14 when he homered for the second time this season in a game against the Athletics.
May 14 on: 15 games, 4 HR, 22 RBI, .298/.410/.638/1.048, 11.5 strikeout percentage
Before May 14: 39 games, 1 HR, 9 RBI, .190/.313/.286/.599, 29.3 strikeout percentage
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“Max, it’s been a tough one to start, but I just give him a lot of credit,” said manager Dave Roberts. “He hasn’t wavered from the work. He hasn’t run from the criticisms. And he’s showing up every day to play and help us win a ball game.”
Kim was outstanding on both sides on Saturday. He reached base all five times on Saturday — walk, homer, single, single, double.
Kim started the game at shortstop and snagged a line drive off the bat of Yankee third baseman Jorbit Vivas in the third inning, then dove to tag second base to double off runner Austin Wells. Kim moved to center field in the sixth and threw out Judge trying to extend a single into a double.
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“Hyeseong, there’s just something about him — that youthful enthusiasm, that joy,” Roberts said. “He’s just happy to be out there, happy to be on the team, and guys feed off the energy. And he takes really good at-bats. He competes.”
Lost in all of this is Landon Knack, who allowed one run over six innings. Knack now has back-to-back starts of six innings and one earned run.
Knack has dropped his ERA from 6.17 to 4.58.
The Dodger offensive roll turns into a steamroller against the Yankees was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.