(TSX / STATS) — LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers are winning so often that they don’t spend much time admiring their work.
Chase Utley drove in the 1,000th run of his 15-year career during the Dodgers’ 4-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Friday, but he didn’t bother asking anyone to save the baseball — it took one of the coaches to get the ball back from Royals catcher Salvador Perez.
Yasiel Puig was less impressed with the home run he hit, a 429-foot blast off Jason Hammel (4-8) through the thick, humid air, than the fact he got finally saw a slider that wasn’t in the dirt.
It all added up to the Dodgers’ 24th win their last 28 games, and their 15th win at home in 16 games that pushed their home record to an audacious 37-11. And it came against the hottest team in the American League.
Puig’s home run in the sixth pushed a Dodger lead to 3-1, which was enough for Kenta Maeda (7-4) and three relievers to snap Kansas City’s four-game winning streak. Even with the loss, the Royals are 18-7 in their last 25 and in contention in the AL Central.
“He pitched well,” Puig said of Hammel. “But we were able to pick up on what he was throwing. He hung a slider. He threw so many in the dirt, one had to stay up.”
Puig was looking for the slider, moving up in the batter’s box on the 2-2 pitch.
“I’m going to hurt my shoulder if I keep going after sliders in the dirt,” he said after his 16th home run of the season, three shy of his career-high 19 in 2013. “I just have to use my wrists more.”
“Yasiel doesn’t need the marine layer,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about the airless evening. “When he hits it good, it’s not coming back.”
Utley didn’t come out for an ovation after his 1,00th RBI, and ducked in and out of the clubhouse in a flash. “Sorry guys, fireworks,” he said, referring to the postgame entertainment.
“You don’t see much emotion with Chase,” Roberts said. “But 1,000 is a great milestone. We’ve been anticipating this for a while.”
Royals manager Ned Yost, whose bullpen has been overworked the last week, chose to leave Hammel in for the sixth after giving up seven hits and walking three in the first five innings.
“He was coming off a good inning,” the manager said. “He made a good pitch and he (Puig) went down and got it. We had a chance to get to Maeda early and didn’t take it.”
Maeda went five innings, allowing four hits and striking out five in addition to delivering a single that scored a run in the fourth inning. He handed the game to the bullpen, Scott Fields working an inning, Brock Stewart two perfect innings and Kenley Jansen the ninth for his 21st save.
Mike Moustakes doubled and scored on an Alcides Escobar single to give the Royals a 1-0 lead in the fourth, but the Dodgers got two back on singles by Utley, Maeda, Logan Forsythe and Corey Seager.
Puig homered in the sixth and Utley drove in Joc Pederson with his double in the eighth.
NOTES: Dodgers 1B Chase Utley, 38, drove in the 1,000th run of his career, making him one of nine active players with 1,000, joining Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltre, Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday, Adrian Gonzalez, Robinson Cano and Victor Martinez. … Dodgers LHP Alex Wood was named to his first All-Star game, being named as a substitute for teammate Clayton Kershaw on the NL team. Kershaw is scheduled to pitch Sunday and will not be available to play in the game. Wood is 10-0 with a 1.67 ERA and the third Dodger to begin a season 10-0, the others being reliever Ed Roebuck in 1962 and Don Newcombe in 1955. … Dodgers 3B Justin Turner was given a day off and was not in the starting lineup, a day after winning the final five voting for an All-Star game spot on the NL team. Turner has the highest batting average in the NL at .380 but does not have enough plate appearances to officially qualify. He was on the DL for 19 games earlier this season. He walked as a pinch hitter in the eighth. … The Dodgers will activate RHP Brandon McCarthy from the 10-day disabled list Saturday and he will start against the Royals. … The Royals outrighted RHP Seth Maness to Triple-A Omaha.
Photo credit – Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press / Los Angeles, CA
