In 2014 Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner hit two grand slam home runs.

In 2014 the entire Dodgers team hit zero grand slams.

In fact, in 2014 only the Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates were without a grand slam and you have to go back another half season – to June 6, 2013 to be exact – to find the last Dodgers grand slam which, of course, was hit by Yasiel Puig, because why wouldn’t it be?

That was 286 games ago.

But all of that changed on Friday night in front of 50,164 at Dodger Stadium when rookie phenom Joc Pederson hit his first career grand slam in the second inning off of former Dodger and current Diamondbacks right-hander Rubby De La Rosa in what would end up being an 8-0 shutout.

Pederson’s second-inning grand slam ended a Dodgers drought of 286 games without one.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Pederson’s blast traveled 446 feet and landed halfway up the Right Field Pavilion. It was the longest home run hit by a Dodger player at Dodger Stadium since Matt Kemp’s 454-footer on April 25, 2012 off of former Braves (and current Dodgers) right-hander Brandon Beachy. It was Pederson’s fifth home run of the season and brought his 2015 RBI total to 14 and his batting average up to an even .300.

Pederson is greeted at home plate by his teammates after hitting his first career grand slam and the first by a Dodger nearly two years. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

On Wednesday, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly moved Pederson and his .461 on-base percentage into the leadoff spot replacing the struggling Jimmy Rollins, who was hitting a paltry .185 with an unacceptable .280 OBP. Pederson answered by slugging a leadoff home run off of Giants right-hander Ryan Vogelsong. And though Pederson was the sixth batter to come to the plate in the second inning of Friday night’s Dbacks shellacking, it was his second consecutive game with a home run while assigned to the leadoff position.

Dodgers super-sub Justin Turner, who was filling in at third base for Juan Uribe, led off the second inning with a solo home run to center, his second of the season, and Dodgers senior statesman Andre Ethier slugged his fourth home run of the season – also a solo shot – in the bottom of the sixth inning. Pinch-hitter Scott Van Slyke added to the RBI parade with a two-out, two-RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.

Andre Ethier’s sixth-inning solo home run was also a no-doubter, although it only traveled 406 feet.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Now, if only the Dodgers could figure out a way to get this kind of run support (or even half of it) for their ace Clayton Kershaw.