The Dodgers thought they found a spark during their series win over the New York Yankees last weekend.
Turns out, after a month of mostly middling play from the first-place ballclub, they might actually have lit a raging, relentless summertime fire.
In their encore to a successful showdown in the Bronx, the Dodgers returned home to dismantle the defending World Series champions Tuesday night, cruising to a 15-2 rout of the Texas Rangers — their most lopsided win all season.
“It was great,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “We’ve been playing really good baseball. We’re taking good at-bats. And that’s why we’ve been producing a lot lately.”
It’s come as a stark contrast to their form of just barely a week ago, when the Dodgers were scuffling through the middle of their season. They went 12-12 from May 10 to June 5. They battled inconsistencies from the lineup and pitching staff for much of that stretch. And entering their showdown with the Yankees, they were looking for a “shot in the arm,” as manager Dave Roberts said ahead of that series.
Five games later, that jolt has been received. The star-studded lineup has surged back to life, punctuating Tuesday’s season-high scoring output with four home runs in a seven-run sixth inning — the club’s first four-home-run frame since September 2021.
A banged-up staff has maintained solid production, getting a strong six-inning, one-run start Tuesday from previously struggling left-hander James Paxton.
And a month after the Dodgers staged a 14-2 run to open a large lead in the National League West, they appear to be on the verge of another scorching stretch in the schedule, enjoying contributions from all parts of the lineup, and all corners of the pitching staff, en route to winning four of five games entering Wednesday.
“We caught a lead and then kept adding on,” Roberts said. “I just thought that we won a lot of at-bats.”
Indeed, Tuesday’s blowout began with a blast, when Will Smith carried a fly ball just deep enough for a three-run homer in the first inning. Mookie Betts then broke the score open in the fourth, lining a two-out, three-run double to left for a 6-1 lead.
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“That,” Roberts said, “was probably…