On the first pitch of Friday’s game, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ben Casparius allowed a homer to Houston Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes. From there, it didn’t get much better for the Dodgers.
Powered by a season-high-tying five homers (but somehow not the most homers by a team this Fourth of July), the Astros coasted to an 18-1 win in the opener of a high-profile, three-game series. The proceedings got bad enough that Dodgers fans began chanting “Start the fireworks!”
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It was Los Angeles’ largest defeat in Dodger Stadium history.
Six different Astros players scored multiple runs, with Jose Altuve leading the charge. The second baseman went 3-for-3 with two homers, a double, two walks, four runs and five RBI. He entered the game without a regular-season home run at Dodger Stadium in his career, then added a pair:
That second homer was part of a 10-run inning for the Astros, marking the first time the Dodgers allowed double-digit runs in an inning since April 23, 1999, the longest such streak in baseball. That was the game in which Fernando Tatis hit two grand slams in a single inning.
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The Astros hit a grand slam in this inning, too.
All of that was at the expense of reliever Noah Davis, who was left to wear it with the game already out of reach. His final line: six hits, 10 earned runs and three walks allowed in 1 1/3 innings of work. His ERA now sits at 19.50.
The sixth inning was brutal enough that Dodgers broadcaster Orel Hershiser brought up the history of the Astros’ cheating in the 2017 World Series, cautiously remarking that the team was hitting like they knew what pitches were coming.
The only Dodgers pitcher who didn’t allow a run was infielder Miguel Rojas, who threw a scoreless ninth while down 17 runs. Casparius ended up allowing six earned runs, while Jack Dreyer and Anthony Banda yielded a single run in multiple innings of work.
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The Dodgers’ pitching staff has been depleted by injuries for basically the entire season, and the result is nights like Friday. The lone Dodgers run came on a solo homer by All-Star catcher Will Smith.
The other tormentor of the Dodgers was first baseman Christian Walker, who regularly punished the team during his time with the Arizona Diamondbacks. While he’s struggling this year, Walker entered the game slashing .341/.401/.783 at Dodger Stadium
On Friday, he hit a homer for a sixth straight game at the ballpark, tying the record for the longest streak by a batter on the road against a specific team in MLB history, per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs. That span includes two multi-homer games.
Walker can go for the outright record on Saturday. Per Langs, the only players with more homers in their first 43 games at a specific venue than his 20 at Chavez Ravine are Mark McGwire, Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez.
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Dodgers fans at least have a better reason to tune in for Saturday, as Shohei Ohtani will take the mound against Framber Valdez for Ohtani’s fourth start since returning to pitching after UCL surgery.
