Seager homers twice more as LA sweeps

June 5th, 2016

LOS ANGELES -- Two home runs from Corey Seager and one each from Kiké Hernandez and Yasmani Grandal keyed a wave of offense that the Dodgers rode to a 12-6 win over the Braves and their third series sweep of the season.
Every starter from the Dodgers had a hit, including pitcher Scott Kazmir, who recorded the first multi-hit game of his career. Seager's star shined brightest, as he went 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs. It was his second multi-homer game of the series and the third of his career. He went deep three times in Friday's opener.
"Corey's doing what Corey's doing, but there were a lot of productive at-bats and you see Trayce [Thompson] on base three times," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "Some big hits throughout. It was good to see us open up a little bit."
Braves starting pitcher Matt Wisler had his worst start of the season, allowing a career-high eight earned runs, at least one in each of his four innings. That snapped the right-hander's streak of six straight quality starts and raised his ERA from 3.16 to 3.98.
"It was a pretty bad effort from me today," Wisler said. "I think I cost this team pretty bad. I got the first two outs quick and after that I fell behind. They really made me pay today."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Like a rock: Two days after his first three-homer game, Seager went deep in the fourth and seventh innings and added an RBI single in the fifth. Seager's five home runs in the series were two more than any Braves player other than Freddie Freeman has hit this season.
"Some more good pitches to handle. Put some good swings on them, just one of those days," Seager said. "That's what you look for, those moments that you want to enjoy when they're happening and try to ride it as long as you can." More >

Reintroduction to growing pains: Staked to a 2-0 lead, Wisler surrendered three consecutive hits during the Dodgers' two-run first inning and allowed Hernandez to open the second with a homer. But the bottom truly fell out in the four-run third inning, when he issued a leadoff walk and then surrendered four consecutive hits, including Grandal's three-run homer. The Braves right-hander produced a 2.91 ERA in the 15 starts he had made since last allowing as many as seven earned runs on Sept. 2.
"I didn't have great command of my secondary stuff early in the game," Wisler said. "I think I just took it from the bullpen and was thinking too much about it. That's one thing I've got to work on this week, just stop thinking and just throw my offspeed pitches." More >

Kazmir exits early: Kazmir was chugging along through five innings, allowing just one hit since the Braves' two-run first. But back-to-back hits in the sixth prompted a visit from the trainer, who then pulled Kazmir from the game because of cramping in his left quad.
Kazmir said after the game he does not expect to miss his next start. More >

Offense for naught: The Braves gained their 2-0 first-inning lead when Nick Markakis began his three-hit performance with the first of his two RBI singles. Jeff Francoeur notched his second double when Atlanta dented the scoreboard again the sixth. But by the time Adonis Garcia concluded his two-hit game with an RBI double during a two-run eighth inning, the visitors had already positioned themselves to fall to 11-4 in games in which they've scored at least five runs.
"We finally scored some runs," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. "We can't get it together, where we get a little offense going and get one of those hot [all-around] games."

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Seager became the first player to hit as many as five home runs in a series against the Braves since Barry Bonds hit six during a three-game series at Turner Field in 2001.
THE COWBOY (JOE) WAY
In their first turn through the lineup, the Dodgers used some interesting country music as their walk-up tunes. As it turned out, the songs came from the discography of home-plate umpire Joe West, who was seen laughing in his umpire mask on the Dodger Stadium video board. Roberts later revealed that Chase Utley was the mastermind behind the tribute. More >
WHAT'S NEXT
Braves:Williams Perez will take the mound when Atlanta begins a three-game series in San Diego on Monday at 10:10 p.m. ET. The Braves have lost 10 straight and 12 of the past 13 games played at Petco Park.
Dodgers:Mike Bolsinger will look for his first quality start of 2016 as the Dodgers welcome the Rockies to Dodger Stadium for a three-game series on Monday. The right-hander has a 4.20 ERA in 15 innings across three starts since returning from the disabled list with an oblique injury.
Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.