The Los Angeles Dodgers rolled to a 10-4 victory over the San Diego Padres on Friday night, led by a career-high seven RBI from Austin Barnes. He gave the Dodgers a lead in the first inning by tagging Clayton Richard for a grand slam.
Richard had retired the first two batters faced before allowing a base hit to Justin Turner, which was followed by Cody Bellinger and Logan Forsythe each working a walk. The grand slam was the first of Barnes’ career.
“It was fun,” Barnes said of the grand slam. “It was definitely fun. I thought I got it pretty good but it looked like he had a beat on it for a second.”
For the Dodgers, it was their 17th grand slam since the start of the 2015 season. They lead the Majors over that stretch.
With Los Angeles holding a 6-1 lead in the sixth inning, Barnes clubbed a three-run home run. The multi-home run game was the first of Barnes’ career. He laughed off Dodgers manager Dave Roberts overshadowing the performance because of a confrontation with Padres skipper Andy Green.
Justin Turner also homered, and the Dodgers went on for a 10-4 win. They finished June with 53 home runs after setting a franchise record for most in a calendar month by reaching 50 home runs on Thursday.
On the season Barnes batting .284/.398/.537 with eight doubles, two triples, four home runs and 18 RBI in 41 games. This year is his first being with the Dodgers full-time, though Barnes is relegated to a backup role at catcher and at times a utility infielder.
The 27-year-old was the starting catcher for Triple-A Oklahoma City the past two seasons. Barnes nonetheless is enjoying his time being with the National League-leading Dodgers.
“It’s been fun coming to the ballpark,” he said. “Something exciting is happening every day with Cody and all these guys.”
