The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants for the second straight night on, getting to Madison Bumgarner to earn a 3-1 victory at Dodger Stadium.
Bumgarner has been one of the top pitchers in baseball for the better part of the last decade, but for some reason, Dodgers utility man Kiké Hernandez has had seemingly endless success against him.
Going into Saturday’s game, Hernandez had hit three home runs off Bumgarner to go along with a .467 batting average (14-for-30), which is the best among all active players against the lefty.
Hernandez continued with that on Saturday, taking Bumgarner deep yet again, this time a two-run shot in the fifth inning that wound up being a game-winner. The home run was a missile shot to left-center field, Hernandez’s 10th of the season.
A utility player having that much success against a four-time All-Star is not something you see every day, and Hernandez does not have an explanation of why he has had that success, via Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times:
“Uh … I don’t know,” Hernandez said, when asked to explain his success against Bumgarner. “As hitters, we always talk about when we’re not feeling great, about pitchers who own us, but we never really talk the other way around. I try not to think too much about it because I haven’t had much success against him the last two years.”
Thanks to Hernandez and the rest of his teammates’ effort, the Dodgers are now only 1.5 games out of first place in the National League West.
The Dodgers made up seven games in the standings in the last calendar month, and will look to keep that going on Sunday afternoon when they go for the three-game sweep over the rival Giants.
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