Los Angeles

Joc Pederson's Two Homers Powers Dodgers Past Angels 5-1

Joc Pederson hit two home runs, Corey Seager hit one, and Clayton Kershaw struck out 11 as the Los Angeles Dodgers took game two of the Freeway Series 5-1 over the Los Angeles of Anaheim at Chavez Ravine on Tuesday night.

LOS ANGELES – Joc Pederson hit two home runs, Corey Seager hit one, and Clayton Kershaw struck out 11 as the Los Angeles Dodgers took game two of the Freeway Series, 5-1, over the Los Angeles of Anaheim at Chavez Ravine on Tuesday night.

Pederson recorded the second multi-home run game of his career en route to his big night for the boys in blue. Even more impressive, the Dodgers have now had three consecutive multi-homer games (Seager, Trayce Thompson and Pederson) and have homered in 11 consecutive games, tied for the longest streak in franchise history.

"That's three nights in a row that one of us hit two home runs," Seager said after the game. "It doesn't get more exciting than that. It's cool watching them happen and everybody is getting excited for each other, it's a good time for our team right now."

Kershaw (6-1) took the mound for the fifth consecutive start following a Dodgers loss and was nearly unhittable again except for a momentary blip in the second inning.

After a single to Albert Pujols, Kershaw committed his second balk in as many games as he uncharacteristically allowed Pujols to move into scoring position.

"I fell off balance," Kershaw said of the balk. "I thought I stepped off in time, but, I was going to balk one way or another so I tried to jump off. Didn't work I guess."

Two batters later, Johnny Giavotella singled to center, scoring Pujols as the Angels jumped out to an early lead.

"They strung three hits together and hopefully that doesn't happen very often," Kershaw continued. "You have to tip your cap when that happens."

Speaking of uncharacteristic behavior, former MVP, Mike Trout, made a rare error in the third inning when he allowed the Dodgers to tie the game after he dropped a Justin Turner fly ball at the warning track with two outs.

Trout tracked down the deep fly, but with the wall approaching, the ball bounced out of his glove, allowing Chase Utley to score and Turner to reach second easily.

"I got to the wall and thought I was going to have to jump," Trout said of the mistake. "Then I realized that I didn't have to and I took my eye off it. It shouldn't happen."

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The young guns took over from there as roommates, Joc Pederson and Corey Seager took Angels' pitcher Jared Weaver deep in the fourth and seventh innings, respectively.

"They're getting better every day. I think it says a lot about the current state of the Dodgers as well as our future going forward," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the team's youth movement. "These are young men that hang out together, room together, they laugh together and play the game the right way."

Weaver (3-3) dropped his third consecutive game, but lowered his ERA to 5.80 allowing four runs (three earned) on 10 hits with two strikeouts in seven innings of work.

Pederson jumped all over an 83 MPH fastball for a two-run blast that gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead, and Seager hit an even slower 69 MPH curveball down the line in right field as the ball just wrapped inside the foul pole for the home run.

For a moment, both players were tied with the team-led in home runs with seven, but Pederson passed his roommate an inning later when he teed off against A.J. Achter in the bottom of the eighth inning, greeting the recent Angels call-up with a solo shot to left-center.

With the two blasts, Pederson leads the Dodgers in home runs with eight, but will have to look over his shoulder as Seager has been on fire lately, batting .412 with two doubles, five homers and seven RBI since May 10th.

"It's one of those locked in times, you're not swinging at balls, staying in your zone and doing everything you can right," Seager said of his hot streak. "It's just kind of clicking right now." 

Kershaw was out-of-this-worldly on the mound, as he won his fourth consecutive start following the team's defeat the day prior, allowing just one run on four hits with 11 strikeouts in eight innings.

"He's consistent and consistently great," Roberts added of his ace. "He punches guys, doesn't walk guys and continues to dominate."

Kenely Jansen worked the ninth in a non-save situation for Los Angeles.

Players of the Game:

Joc Pederson: 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI.
Corey Seager: Home run.
Clayton Kershaw: one run on four hits with 11 strikeouts in 8 IP.

Three Takeaways:

1. Kershaw's Streak Continues: Clayton Kershaw extended his Dodger record with his sixth consecutive game with 10 or more strikeouts. In the month of May, Kershaw went 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA, 48 strikeouts and just one walk. He is two more starts of 10+ strikeouts away from tying the MLB record set by Chris Sale and Pedro Martinez.

2. Clearing the Bases is Contagious: With Joc Pederson's two homers tonight, the Dodgers have had three consecutive multi-home run games. Corey Seager started it off with two on Sunday, Trayce Thompson with two on Monday, and Pederson on Tuesday. In total, the Dodgers have now homered in 11 consecutive games, their longest streak since Sept. 2009.

3. Million Man Mark – The Dodgers had 42,514 fans at Tuesday's game, the finale of a nine-game home stand. Tonight's attendance surpassed the 1,000,000 mark in attendance, the fastest over a million in MLB to date.

Up Next:

Angels (17-22): Nick Tropeano will get the ball for the Angels as the Freeway Series moves to Anaheim for the final two games.

Dodgers (21-19): Mike Bolsinger makes a surprise start for the Dodgers on Wednesday as the team will temporarily go with a six-man rotation.

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