WEST SACRAMENTO — Before the game on Monday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked for the scouting report on Sutter Health Park, the Triple-A stadium that has become the Athletics’ two-year rest stop on the road from Oakland to Las Vegas.
“The ball flies,” Roberts said.
Apparently, it also bloops, flares and occasionally disappears in the setting sun.
The Dodgers and A’s combined for 28 hits, including four home runs on Monday night with the Dodgers pulling away for a 9-4 victory.
The Dodgers finished the night with 17 hits on their own, including a 432-foot, three-run home run by Shohei Ohtani that threatened to ford the nearby Sacramento River. It is the fourth time in their past six games that the Dodgers collected at least 10 hits.
“It’s been a lot of fun to be part of,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “The boys are rolling good right now. We’re taking a lot of really good at-bats. We’re starting to get some healthy pieces back also. It’s kind of a boost to everybody.
“It is something that we’ve been harping on a lot the last several weeks. We’ve been continuing to do it night in and night out. Even in the games we haven’t scored a lot of runs, I feel the at-bat quality has been real good. If the results aren’t there, that’s baseball. Everyone has been playing really well.”
The Dodgers started the scoring with three consecutive singles in the second inning. The middle single was a routine fly ball by Kyle Tucker that the A’s outfielders lost in the sun. Dalton Rushing made it a two-run inning with an RBI single.
The A’s answered back against Dodgers starter Eric Lauer in the bottom of the inning, starting with a home run by Colby Thomas. After a strikeout, three consecutive singles followed – none of them reached 80 mph off the bat.
Max Muncy (A’s version) singled off the third-base bag near Max Muncy (original version). Alika Williams blooped a single to right and Joshua Kuroda-Grauer flared one to right for his first major-league hit. A third run scored on a force out before Lauer escaped the inning.
“Felt like I was just getting singled to death, which I mean, it’ll happen, but you just try to make pitches and make sure that you’re executing good pitches,” Lauer said. “Sometimes that kind of stuff happens, but as long as you’re keeping soft contact in play, I think eventually it’ll work out in our favor. And I think it did overall.”
The A’s loaded the bases against the Dodgers left-hander in the third inning but he got out without sustaining any more damage and even retired nine A’s in order, 10 of the last 12 he faced in six solid innings.
Since being acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays, Lauer has pitched six times for the Dodgers (five starts and once following an opener). He has pitched six innings four times and came one out short of completing six innings another time with an overall ERA as a Dodger of 2.88.
“Every time he takes the ball it seems like he’s going six innings and giving us some length,” Roberts said. “For him to be shaky early, not getting the strikeouts but still take down 18 outs was big. That’s what he signed up for, and he’s been nothing but impressive for us.”
The Dodgers’ offense just kept its foot on the gas.
Odds were higher than usual that Max Muncy would hit a home run in this game – and one of them did. The elder Muncy led off the fourth inning with a 422-foot drive over the bullpen beyond right field. Andy Pages added a two-run home run in the inning to give the Dodgers the lead.
“It’s a little weird,” said Muncy the Dodger of facing his doppel-namer (who also shares his birthday). “It’s a strange feeling standing at third base and they’re announcing that you’re hitting and it’s not you. Thankfully, it’s just a couple games, because I don’t know if I would ever get used to it.”
Two innings later, Miguel Rojas led off with a single and Dalton Rushing worked a walk. A’s reliever Matt Krook delivered a sweeper at the top of the zone to Ohtani that should have been a crime. Ohtani hit a 112.3 mph laser that, like the A’s themselves, seemed headed for Las Vegas.
“Yeah, that was a good one,” Roberts said. “You could just see that he was kind of sizing up that slider and he got one left up and put a really good swing on it.
“I don’t think he’s 100 percent with his knee (which caused him to miss a game two weeks ago). But as far as his swing mechanics, where he’s at, he’s on balance. He’s 100 percent in the box.”
Singles by Rushing, Ohtani and Freddie Freeman produced another run in the eighth inning. Eight of the nine Dodgers in the starting lineup had two hits.
The win was the 999th of Roberts’ managerial career. His next win will make him the fourth manager in Dodgers history to reach 1,000, joining Walter Alston (2,040), Tommy Lasorda (1,599) and Wilbert Robinson (1,375) – all of whom are in the Hall of Fame.
More to come on this story.