June 30th, 2017 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka You knew it was going to be one of those nights the moment Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw made his first pitch on Thursday evening against the Angels of Anaheim in front of a sold out Angel Stadium. It was the final game of the annual Freeway Series against the Halos and the Dodgers were hoping to salvage at least a series split, having lost one of two at Dodger Stadium and a heartbreaking loss the night before on, of all things, a dropped third strike and then an errant throw to first base by Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal that would have ended the game with a Dodgers win. Like I said, a heartbreaking loss.
On this night, however, the man who many consider the best pitcher on the planet was exactly that. No, he didn’t throw a perfect game or a no-hitter. In fact, he didn’t even pitch a complete game. But what he did do was become Major League Baseball’s first 12-game winner with his 6-2 dominating win over the Angels.
According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, we have yet to see the best of Clayton Kershaw this season.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Don’t let those two Angels runs fool you, however. One belonged to Dodgers left-hander Luis Avilan, who relieved Kershaw to begin the bottom of the eighth inning after Kershaw had allowed only one unearned run on a misplayed ball by Dodgers left fielder Trayce Thompson. Aside from that, Kershaw allowed no earned runs on three hits while walking one and striking out 12.
But even the best pitcher on the planet cannot win without run support and Kershaw received plenty of it on Thursday, thanks in a large part to solo home runs by Yasiel Puig and Chase Utley in the top half of the fifth inning, and a monster 421-foot three-run blast by Joc Pederson in the sixth inning.
Pederson’s jack was his eighth on the season, but more importantly, it was the Dodgers 50th home run since June 1 to set a franchise record for the most home runs hit in a calendar month.
“I think Belly has something to do with that,” Kershaw jokingly told reporters, after the game.
Indeed, Dodgers rookie phenom first baseman/outfielder Cody Bellinger did. Of those record-setting 50 home runs in June, the 21-year-old Scottsdale, Arizona native slugged 13 of them. The others are:
- Yasiel Puig – 6
- Joc Pederson – 6
- Corey Seager – 5
- Yasmani Grandal – 5
- Justin Turner – 4
- Kiké Hernandez – 4
- Chris Taylor – 3
- Chase Utley – 2
- Logan Forsythe – 1
- Trayce Thompson – 1
Pederson’s record-breaking home run on Thursday traveled 421 feet and landed midway up the right field bleachers. (Photo credit Jon SooHoo)
So, what did Pederson have to say about being the guy to set the new franchise record? Very little, actually.
“I think we have a lot of good hitters. Yeah, hitting’s contagious.”
With the win the Dodgers picked up a full game on the second place Arizona Diamondback and the third place Colorado Rockies, both of whom lost on Thursday to fall to 2.5 and 5.0 games back respectively behind the Dodgers in the highly competitive National League West race … well, not counting the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants, who are 19,0 and 23.0 games back respectively behind the Dodgers.
Then again, Thursday night’s game was exactly the halfway mark of the 2017 regular season, so it would behoove the Dodgers to continue to enjoy that contagious hitting and dominating pitching.
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Breaking that home run mark record truly shows that the Dodgers now have one of the best teams they’ve had in a very long time.
Watching Joc Pederson circle the bases again with more regularity is a wonderful thing to behold!
As an aside, the 1974 Dodgers (who had MLB’s best record that year) hit 49 HR in a month and accomplished this feat twice that year.
Kevin – I think it was the 1953 Dodgers that accomplished that feat with 49 home runs in both July and August. Duke and Campy had 42 and 41 respectively that year.
Both teams did it. I thought it was the ’74 team that did it twice, but I may be mistaken.
That is interesting. The ’74 Dodgers didn’t have the big boppers of the ’53 Dodgers so did a great job.
Your comment got me to thinking. You’re right, they had some power but nothing like they had in ’53 or today.
So I looked it up, starting the hard way: game by game. I finally found the summary I was looking for.
In short: I’m wrong. They’re best month was May, when they hit 28 HR. I really don’t know where or when I heard that but I’ve believed it a long time.
I was in Thailand that year. That’s the best excuse I have, so I’ll go with it.
I did come across something interesting:
The Dodgers had days off July 1 and July 11. In the 9 days between they played 12 games on the road. They played double-headers in Cincinnati July 3 and in Montreal July 5 and 7. They split the first two, swept the third.
Overall their record for that 9 day stretch was 8-4. Pretty good, even if the didn’t have Cody, who wasn’t born yet. Heck, even Chase wasn’t born yet!
Harold, you are absolutely correct. I was listening to the radio when I heard this and threw a brick with my comment. I could’ve sworn I heard them say ’74… which kind of made sense at the time due to their best record that year. Thanks for the head’s up on this.
Those 1953 Dodgers hit 49 homers in 31 games during each of those two record-setting months; this year’s edition hit 50 homers in just 26 games this June, and they have a chance to extend the record in their final game of the month on Friday at San Diego.
When the clock struck midnight, it was 53. I kinda like than number. ; )
HCIT?
53 HR in a month to beat the ’53 Dodgers that had two huge HR months back-to-back… and we’re hosted by the Fan Since ’53…
It’s raining 53’s! Very cool…