The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees met for the first time since the 2019 season, which resulted in a bit of a Home Run Derby at Dodger Stadium between the two powerful offenses.
Backed by four homers and a stellar outing from Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers took the first game of the series with an 8-4 victory.
Mookie Betts started the offense with a leadoff home run, which was the 41st of his career. It also was Betts’ fifth leadoff homer of the season, which leads all players. Of his 41 career leadoff homers, 21 have come with the Dodgers in 374 games.
That got the offense going as Will Smith then hit a one-out single before Max Muncy hit his 18th long ball of the season, putting the Dodgers up 3-0 before many fans even found their seats.
Singles from J.D. Martinez, Jason Heyward and Miguel Vargas loaded the bases, which was followed by another from James Outman and a sacrifice fly from Miguel Rojas, which put the Dodgers up 5-0.
The Dodgers batted around in the inning, which allowed Betts to drive in another run with an RBI single, but the inning ended when Outman was picked off at third base.
A warm LA welcome from Mookie. pic.twitter.com/XD7uhbEtYn
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 3, 2023
Let 'em know, Max. pic.twitter.com/gzAg9gzwtn
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 3, 2023
Just Dingers! pic.twitter.com/XIRau6PGd4
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 3, 2023
Motion denied. pic.twitter.com/B53Dlbf1tN
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 3, 2023
Start spreading the news, Mookie's hit another homer. pic.twitter.com/Iht4A12TMg
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 3, 2023
King Kersh. pic.twitter.com/atwKWRR0V3
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 3, 2023
Victory formation!
Dodgers x @Yaamava pic.twitter.com/aZyVU0ajAv
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 3, 2023
Josh Donaldson put the Yankees on the board with a solo home run in the second inning, but Martinez responded in the third inning with his 13th blast of the season. The designated hitter has four homers in his last five games, and eight in his last 12.
The long ball additionally placed Martinez within five homers of reaching the 300 club for his career.
Southern California native Giancarlo Stanton continued his hot hitting at Chavez Ravine, blasting his fifth homer of the season in the fourth inning.
Betts hit his second homer of the game in the sixth inning to give the Dodgers their eighth run. It also marked the second time in Betts’ career that he’s recorded back-to-back multi-homer games, which he previously accomplished on May 31-June 1, 2016, against the Baltimore Orioles.
The Yankees added two more runs in the ninth inning when Stanton walked and Donaldson hit his third homer of the season, cutting the Dodgers lead in half. However, Phil Bickford was able to retire the next two batters to finish off the game.
Clayton Kershaw rebounds for Dodgers
After a few rough outings, Kershaw rebounded to throw seven innings while giving up just two runs on four hits. He also added nine strikeouts to his stat line while walking just one.
On the season, the Kershaw is 7-4 with a 3.25 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 69.1 innings.
Following Kershaw, Yency Almonte and Bickford worked the final two innings, with the former pitching a scoreless inning.
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