From a pure numbers standpoint, Friday night’s game between the National League West second-place Dodgers and the American League West last-place Texas Rangers was over two batters into the bottom of the first inning. But as we all know, baseball games are nine innings long; or at least five innings in the event of rain.

It didn’t rain at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

…unless you consider home run balls and postgame fireworks falling from the sky as rain.

After Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts reached first base on a throwing error by Rangers shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa to lead off the bottom of the first inning, Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy absolutely crushed an 84.7-MPH slider off of Rangers right-hander Mike Foltynewicz for a 428-foot two-run home run that landed midway up the Right Field Pavilion. And though those would be the only two runs that Dodgers future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw would need to collect his eighth win of the season, he got additional home runs from third baseman Justin Turner and shortstop Gavin Lux in a six-run first inning that saw 10 Dodger batters come to the plate.

Fellow future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols and catcher Will Smith also homered on the night for the Dodgers. For Pujols, it was the 672nd of his brilliant 21-year MLB career to put him 24 behind Alex Rodriguez for fourth on the all-time MLB home run list. He has now homered in five of the 19 games in which he has appeared since joining the Dodgers on May 17.

As for Kershaw, in addition to going 2-for-3 at the plate with a RBI, he was absolutely brilliant on the mound for the Dodgers. In his 6.0 innings of work, the 33-year-old Dallas, TX native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in University Park, TX allowed only one unearned run on three hits, while striking out nine and walking none.

“My fastball command was probably the biggest improvement, something that I had worked on in between starts,” Kershaw said of his MLB-leading 14th start of the season. “I feel like I actually knew where that was going today for the most part, so that’s a good improvement. And then you get six runs in the first. I feel like I’ve been pitching on the right day a lot this year; guys have been giving me a ton of run support.”

As for his hitting prowess, Kershaw was quite clear in his explanation and his motivation.

“I’m just trying to keep up with Julio [Urías] and Walker [Buehler]. They’re raking right now,” Kershaw said of his two-hit night. “So I need to get back on the board.”

But the news wasn’t all good on Friday. Shortly after slugging his first-inning (game-winning) two-run home run, Muncy had to come out of the game for what was described as “right side tightness.”

“I’m really hesitant to say an oblique, but that’s where it was at,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said postgame.

And then, following a fifth-inning single by Cody Bellinger, the Dodgers centerfielder also had to exit the game after he was seen limping down the line. On his way back to the dugout (having been replaced by Zach McKinstry), Bellinger was heard saying “cramp.” The team later announced that Bellinger had experienced “left hamstring tightness.”

“Right now, I’m going to kind of hold on to hope that it’ll be short-term, if any lost time for both guys,” Roberts said.

Following Friday Night’s fireworks on the field, the season-high 20,220 fans in attendance were (finally) treated to the return of Friday Night Fireworks after the game.

Prior to Friday’s game, the NL West first-place San Francisco Giants won their game against the Washington Nationals in our nation’s capital to maintain their 1.5-game lead over the Dodgers. However, the San Diego Padres lost their game to the New York Mets at Citi Field to drop to 3.5 games behind the Giants and 2.0 games behind the Dodgers in the division.

Play Ball!

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