by Megan Garcia
Patience has become a virtue the Dodgers possess when trailing their opponent. They’re the best in baseball at storming back. It’s just a matter of when it will happen.
On Sunday, it happened early. Their 5–1 win over the Royals was powered by home runs and two-strike hitting for the Dodgers’ sixth consecutive series victory.
Since June 9, the Dodgers have won 14 of 19 games. Their 1.5-game divisional lead at that time grew to 6.5 games by their final matchup of the month.
“Regardless of the opponent, we just focus on playing good baseball,” said manager Dave Roberts. “That’s what we’ve done for quite some time. It’s kind of what we do.”
Since the second week of June, the Dodgers have been in the top five in runs (2nd, 110) and home runs (T-3rd, 31) in baseball.
Kiké Hernández and Will Smith supplied the power in the series victory.
Hernández propelled the Dodgers ahead of the Royals with his eighth homer — a two-run blast to center — after trailing 1–0 in the second.
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Smith became the seventh Dodger hitter to hit at least 10 homers in 2025 with his home run in the sixth. The Dodgers lead the National League with the most hitters with double-digit homers.
Smith, who is in contention to be the NL’s All-Star starting catcher, finishes June with four homers and 13 RBI.
His solo shot was the Dodgers’ fourth two-strike hit of the day out of their seven against the Royals.
“We took care of business.” Smith said of the successful 5–1 road trip.
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Max Muncy continued his hot-hitting June with his RBI double in the seventh. It was his 17th RBI in six games. He finishes June with a team-leading seven homers — tied with Shohei Ohtani. Muncy slashed .338/.468/.662/1.130 with 23 RBI in 24 games.
Miguel Rojas, who singled in the Dodgers’ final run of the seventh, left the game with an apparent injury after a stolen base attempt in the same frame. Roberts said Rojas will get an X-ray on his left hand.
Wrobleski’s Brings Relief to Bullpen Games
The left-hander let out an empathetic ‘Yes!’ when Royals’ Freddy Fermin swung through his inning-ending four-seamer. Justin Wrobleski’s mission was accomplished after he fired 83 pitches in six scoreless innings with six punchouts.
Save the bullpen. Earn a win.
“He’s in the strike zone, commanding all his pitches, feels like hitters on their heels. The fastball is certainly playing up,” Roberts said. “He’s been efficient with his pitches. Today, (for him) to give us six innings was huge. To save Tanner (Scott) and some other guys in the ‘pen was big. He’s just continuing to grow.”
Since June 13, the left-hander allowed only four earned runs through 20 1/3 innings in four appearances. He also struck out 21 hitters and issued three walks in that span.
Sunday marked his third consecutive win out of the bullpen.
The Dodgers finish June with power in the NL West was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.