Will Smith hit three home runs and Freddie Freeman delivered a two-run, go-ahead single in the eighth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for an 8-5 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.
Miguel Vargas homered for the Dodgers, who took the opener of a three-game series after losing three of their previous four games.
Smith’s first career three-homer game was the fourth ever from a Dodgers catcher and the first since Yasmani Grandal accomplished the feat in 2016.
Freeman’s go-ahead hit in a tie game against Brewers left-hander Hoby Milner came with two outs after Smith walked to load the bases against Elvis Peguero (5-3). Teoscar Hernandez followed with an RBI double for a three-run advantage.
Rhys Hopkins hit a grand slam and Aaron Civale went five innings in his debut with his new club as the National League Central-leading Brewers fell to 2-3 on a seven-game road trip. Civale was acquired Wednesday in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Hopkins’ grand slam was the sixth for Milwaukee in its last 13 games and seventh on the season.
Smith hit his first home run of the game in the opening inning and added another in the third as the Dodgers took a 2-0 lead.
The Brewers roared in front in the fourth inning, getting a Willy Adames RBI single before Hopkins crushed his grand slam to center field, his 12th home run of the season.
The Dodgers inched back to within one run in the bottom of the fourth when Andy Pages had a leadoff single and Vargas socked a one-out, two-run home run to left, his second.
After hitting his first two homers of the game against Civale, Smith hit his third in the seventh inning off left-hander Bryan Hudson to tie the game 5-5. The blast, off the left field foul pole, was Smith’s 14th of the season.
Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow gave up five runs on three hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in six innings.
Daniel Hudson (6-1) pitched a scoreless inning to earn the win, and Evan Phillips struck out the side in the ninth for his 14th save.
–Field Level Media
