Chris Taylor hit a grand slam and Freddie Freeman added three hits to power the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 6-4 victory over the host Baltimore Orioles on Monday in the opener of a three-game series.
The Dodgers trailed 4-1 before scoring a five times in the sixth inning, a rally capped by Taylor’s blast.
Freeman went 3-for-5, scored twice and finished a homer shy of hitting for the cycle. Will Smith went 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run for the Dodgers, who won for the seventh time in eight games.
Adley Rutschman homered and Ryan Mountcastle went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Orioles, who had their season-high, eight-game winning streak snapped.
After the Orioles took a 1-0 lead on Mountcastle’s run-scoring double in the first, Baltimore pushed its advantage to 3-0 in the second on Adam Frazier’s RBI groundout and Gunnar Henderson’s run-scoring triple to right.
The Dodgers pulled within 3-1 on J.D. Martinez’s RBI single to left in the fourth before Rutschman belted a solo homer in the fifth.
Los Angeles took control in the sixth against Baltimore rookie Grayson Rodriguez, who was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to make the start.
Freeman led off with a triple before scoring on Smith’s single to left. A wild pitch and a walk to Max Muncy ended Rodriguez’s night. Reliever Bryan Baker (3-3) got Martinez and David Peralta to fly out before walking Jason Heyward to load the bases.
Five pitches later, Taylor blasted Baker’s fastball 416 feet over the center field fence to clear the bases for a 6-4 lead.
Rodriguez was charged with four runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks in five-plus innings.
Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan (3-0) allowed four runs on five hits with two strikeouts and three walks in five innings.
Yency Almonte, Alex Vesia, Caleb Ferguson and Ryan Brasier each followed with one scoreless inning. Brasier worked around a leadoff walk to Colton Cowser in the ninth to earn his second save of the season.
–Field Level Media
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