Muncy, Dodgers slam Marlins in first inning, back stellar effort from Yamamoto

Max Muncy hit a grand slam in the first inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to six games with an 8-2 victory over the visiting Miami Marlins on Tuesday.

Gavin Lux also hit a home run while right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (4-1) gave up two runs on five hits over a career-best eight innings as the Dodgers moved one victory from a perfect six-game homestand while winning for the 13th time in their past 15 games.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a home run on the first pitch of the game for the Marlins, who have had an early lead on the Dodgers in two consecutive games before losing both. Bryan De La Cruz also went deep for the Marlins.

Miami right-hander Edward Cabrera (1-2) gave up Muncy’s grand slam and went two innings. He was followed by right-hander George Soriano, who met a similar fate by allowing four runs over three innings.

After Chisholm put the Marlins up early with his fifth home run of the season, the Dodgers went to work quickly against Cabrera. Shohei Ohtani walked, Freddie Freeman was hit by a pitch and Will Smith walked to load the bases with one out.

Muncy’s grand slam, the opposite way to left-center field, came on Cabrera’s second pitch of the at-bat. The ninth home run of the season for Muncy was also his sixth career grand slam. Muncy hit three last season.

The Dodgers tacked on four more runs in the third inning on a sacrifice fly from Andy Pages, an error by Marlins catcher Christian Bethancourt to bring home Muncy and a two-run shot from Lux, his first homer this year after a slow start offensively.

Los Angeles has 14 home runs in the past four games.

De La Cruz took Yamamoto deep in the sixth inning to cap the scoring.

On Wednesday, it was back to where it all began for the Miami Marlins’ Ryan Weathers as the left-hander took the mound against the host Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon.

Weathers had never pitched in a regular-season game when he made his debut for the San Diego Padres in a 2020 National League Division Series contest against the Dodgers. He showed promise by not allowing a run over 1 1/3 innings in the pressure cooker that became an eventual Dodgers victory.

Now a member of the Marlins after a trade last season, Weathers (2-3, 4.54 ERA) faced Los Angeles on Wednesday after matching his career high by going six innings against the Oakland Athletics on Friday. He gave up three runs but didn’t walk a batter while taking the loss.

“I thought Weathers was good [with] 70 percent strikes, or something like that,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “Slider [and] changeup was excellent. I thought the command on both of those pitches and the swing-and-miss was good.”

Weathers will need more of the same against the high-octane Los Angeles offense, which used a Max Muncy grand slam in the first inning on Tuesday to start its way to an 8-2 victory over the Marlins. The Dodgers turned five walks, two hit batters and five hits into the win.

“You get in bad counts and they’ll make you pay,” Schumaker said. “That’s what good teams do. You cannot do that against that team, and that’s how they get the eight runs on the board.”

Counting his playoff appearance, Weathers’ six career outings against the Dodgers are tied for his most against any club. In the five regular-season outings (four starts) vs. Los Angeles, he is 0-1 with a 4.66 ERA.

In something of an awakening, the Marlins delivered a three-game home sweep of the Colorado Rockies last week, but they are 1-4 heading into the finale of a six-game West Coast trip.

The Dodgers, on the other hand, are on a six-game winning streak and looking to sweep consecutive home series after rolling through the Atlanta Braves over the weekend. Los Angeles has won 13 of 15.

“It’s a good indicator of what this group is capable of and I think everyone in here would admit that we let those two (recent defeats) get away from us,” Muncy said. “It’s been fun showing up every single day, and we have a good group here.”