Field Level Media
May 26, 2018
Matt Kemp and Enrique Hernandez each hit home runs Friday as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the visiting San Diego Padres 4-1 for their seventh victory in their past eight games.
Ross Stripling (2-1), in just his fifth start of the season, gave up one run on six hits while striking out 10 over 6 2/3 innings. It was his career high in strikeouts, besting the nine he had while defeating the Washington Nationals on Saturday in the opener of a doubleheader.
Jose Pirela had three hits for the Padres, who went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position while falling to 11-11 in the month of May.
Padres starter Clayton Richard (3-6) gave up four runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts over six innings. The left-hander had been on a run of three consecutive starts of at least seven innings while allowing three earned runs or fewer.
Kemp got the Dodgers going early, crushing his sixth home run of the season three batters into the game. The Dodgers opened with walks to Chris Taylor and Justin Turner. Richard had walked just one batter combined over his previous three outings.
The Padres cut the lead to 3-1 in the third inning on Travis Jankowski's RBI groundout. A half inning later, Hernandez made it 4-1 on his home run to right-center field. It was the seventh home run of the season for Hernandez and second in his last four games.
Kemp had three hits to go along with his three RBIs, raising his batting average to .338.
Stripling was followed by relievers Pedro Baez, Tony Cingrani and Kenley Jansen, as the foursome combined to strike out 15 Padres batters. Jansen pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 11th save in 13 chances.
Stripling did not walk a batter for his third consecutive start. He has just three walks combined in his five starts.
The Dodgers are now 3-1 to open their season-long 10-game, 11-day homestand. The Dodgers also improved to 5-2 against the Padres this season, including a combined no-hitter May 4 at Monterrey, Mexico.
--Field Level Media