Joc Pederson continued his torrid pace and it propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers to a National League home run record in their 7-3 win over the Colorado Rockies. Along with completing a sweep of the Rockies, the Dodgers lowered their magic number to clinch the NL West to four.
Pederson clubbed his eighth leadoff home run of the season and later added a two-run shot. Up to that point, he had one double, five home runs and one walk in his last seven plate appearances. His remarkable string of success ended with a strikeout in the sixth inning.
Pederson’s homer in the fourth gave the Dodgers 250 this season. That broke the NL record which was previously held by the 2000 Houston Astros. Moreover, Pederson’s eight leadoff home runs tied his Dodgers franchise record that was set last year.
The offensive power display was needed as Hyun-Jin Ryu labored for a third consecutive start. The Rockies drove up his pitch count and steadily began to chip away at their deficit before Ryu was removed with one out in the fifth inning.
He allowed six hits, three runs and issued a season-high four walks. Ryu was bailed out by Chris Taylor’s diving catch in left-center field to end the fourth inning and take at least one run away from the Rockies.
After dominating through the first half, Ryu has failed to go five innings in each of his past three starts. In the past four starts he’s now pitched to a 9.95 ERA and 2.05 WHIP, and his 2.45 season ERA is the highest since a May 7 outing.
Adam Kolarek got the Dodgers out of trouble in the fifth inning, and Ross Stripling handled the sixth and seventh, Caleb Ferguson worked a perfect eighth, and Pedro Baez finished the game out. The bullpen allowed just one hit and one walk over 4.2 scoreless innings.
