Dodgers Win Back to Back

By Earl Heath Contributing Sports Writer

A deep lineup was not necessarily the Dodgers’ strong suit when the month of May began. Will Smith and J.D. Martinez had spent much of April battling injuries. Jason Heyward struggled to keep his batting average above .200. In May Smith has emerged in an awesome way , Martinez is in a groove and Heywood is on fire.

Flash forward to this week. After beating the Washington Nationals, 9-3, before an announced crowd of 46,571 at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers have essentially transformed their identity in the span of a month.

Now, with injuries to Julio Urías and Dustin May robbing the team of two of its best pitchers, the lineup appears to be picking up the slack. Entering the final day of May, the Dodgers are averaging 6.2 runs per game this month – a big step up from their 5.0 runs per game on the final day of April.

“You look around and there’s four or five guys on any given night who can hurt you, who can carry the load,” Martinez said.

“Someone seems to step up every night. It takes a lot of pressure off everybody else.”