Austin Barnes powers Dodgers over Padres

A pair of potential All-Stars shined on Friday night, but it was backup catcher Austin Barnes who stole the show for the Dodgers as they cruised to a 10-4 win over the Padres, a source of happiness that will likely get remembered more for some anger in the early innings.

Barnes started things off in the first inning with a two-out grand slam off Padres left-hander Clayton Richard. After hitting the ball hard but with nothing to show for it in each of his next two at-bats, Barnes added a three-run shot in the sixth inning that put the game away.

The seven RBI for Barnes are tied for second-most in a game by a Dodgers catcher, just one behind teammate Yasmani Grandal.

Barnes is hitting .284/.398/.537 on the season, with 14 extra-base hits in 113 plate appearances.

Justin Turner had a two-run home run, one of his three hits, and reached base four times in the victory, continuing his scorching hot season. Just imagine had he played more than six innings.

Turner on the season is hitting .390/.475/.556, including .415/.519/.692 in June. His name should be called when All-Star rosters are announced on Sunday.

All of that offense was more than enough for Alex Wood, whose biggest issue on the night seemed to be Padres leadoff man Jose Pirela relaying signs and catcher location from second base. After allowing a leadoff double, Wood voiced his displeasure to Pirela for violating one of baseball’s unwritten rules.

But Wood seemed to channel that anger into dominating the Padres. He retired his next nine batters faced, including seven strikeouts, and ended up allowing just one run on two hits in six innings.

Wood is the first Dodgers pitcher to start a season 9-0 since Rick Rhoden in 1976. With a 1.83 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 73⅔ innings, he made a very strong case for a trip to Miami after next weekend.

The anger from that first inning carried over between innings, when home plate umpire Greg Gibson warned both benches. That prompted questions from both managers, and from there things devolved into a heated argument between Dave Roberts and Andy Green.

It got so heated that the normally jovial Roberts charged at and bumped Green, prompting benches to empty. Then, as the two sides were separating Roberts was seen yelling “You and me” to Green across the field. Both managers were ejected.

The three home runs gave the Dodgers 53 in June, adding to their record for home runs in a month. The victory made them 21-7 this month, tying the 1952, 1954, and 1973 teams for most wins in June in franchise history.

Heating up

Also noteworthy on Friday night was Logan Forsythe, who reached base in all five plate appearances, with four singles and a walk. He scored three times.

After starting slowly amid recovering form a broken toe and a right hamstring strain, Forsythe bottomed out at a .574 OPS on June 17. Since then, Forsythe is 14-for-43 (.326) with seven walks and a .412 on-base percentage in 11 games.

Up next

The Dodgers go for a third straight victory on Saturday night in another battle of southpaws. Rich Hill starts for the Dodgers in the 7:10 p.m. PT contest, with Dillon Overton getting the call for San Diego.

Friday particulars

Home runs: Austin Barnes 2 (4), Justin Turner (6)

WP - Alex Wood (9-0): 6 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts.

LP - Clayton Richard (5-8): 4⅓ IP, 9 hits, 7 runs, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts