MILWAUKEE -- Brewers outfielder Domingo Santana continued his recent power surge against one of the biggest names in baseball on Friday.
Santana crushed a 443-foot home run to center field off Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw in the seventh inning of the Brewers' 2-1, extra-innings loss. The homer came on Kershaw's 92.6-mph fastball and was the longest of Santana's career.
"I always dreamed about hitting a ball like that off of one of the best pitchers in the game, so it was really great for me," Santana said. "It was more middle than anything. I was just trying to get the timing right, because he had his wide-open stance, so he was pretty good at keeping you off timing."
The no-doubter left Santana's bat with a 110.9-mph exit velocity and 26-degree launch angle, making it the hardest and longest hit off Kershaw in the Statcast™ era.
Prior to Santana's go-ahead blast, Kershaw had retired 20 consecutive batters dating back to the first inning, when he gave up a leadoff double to Keon Broxton. It was the first home run by a Brewer to break a scoreless tie in the seventh inning or later since Caleb Gindl did it on July 21, 2013, with a walk-off homer in the 13th against Miami.
"Me and Domingo talked about our at-bats, and talked about what Kershaw was trying to do to us," Broxton said. "We just told each other to stay up the middle and just stay confident. For him to pull through like that for the team, while we were all scuffling, it's huge. It gave us life, and it gave us hope that we were going to come through and win this game."
Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson echoed Broxton, saying the early lead helped build the team's confidence.
"That was really big. I feel like anybody in our lineup one through eight at least, I don't about nine, can pop it for a home run, so just a matter of time really," Nelson said. "I was just trying to do what I can to keep it close before one of those guys would score something."
Santana finished 1-for-5 with two strikeouts on Friday. He has homered in three of his last five games, and is batting .333 (34-for-102) with 19 runs, four doubles, six home runs, 22 RBIs and four home runs over his last 28 games since April 30.