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The Dodgers found their power stroke on Friday night, hitting three home runs to beat the Cubs and snap a four-game losing streak.
Heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, both the Dodgers and Cubs had one home run each, until AJ Pollock and Max Muncy provided the winning margin with long balls of their own.
So far this season the Dodgers are 27-4 (.871) when they hit more homers than their opponent, and 18-27 (.400) when they don’t. That latter mark includes losing records both when getting out-homered (10-14) and when equaling their opponents’ home runs (8-13).
In each of the last nine Dodgers games, and in 13 of the last 14, the pattern held: in games with more homers than their foes, LA has won; otherwise, they’ve lost.
The two late home runs on Friday helped widen the Dodgers’ homer gap in June to 27-22. This year the Dodgers have hit 96 home runs and allowed 84, both sides the fifth-best in the National League. But each month this year, the two sides have been relatively close, after spending the better part of three years with a much wider gap.
The Dodgers haven’t been out-homered since April 2018, and the bulk of the months since featured them with a double-digit lead in home runs, until this year.
Dodgers home runs, month by month
| Month | Games | HR for | HR against | HR gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Games | HR for | HR against | HR gap |
| Mar/Apr 2018 | 28 | 25 | 34 | -9 |
| May 2018 | 28 | 31 | 27 | +4 |
| Jun 2018 | 26 | 55 | 26 | +29 |
| Jul 2018 | 26 | 33 | 31 | +2 |
| Aug 2018 | 27 | 45 | 29 | +16 |
| Sep/Oct 2018 | 28 | 46 | 32 | +14 |
| Mar/Apr 2019 | 32 | 52 | 41 | +11 |
| May 2019 | 26 | 40 | 30 | +10 |
| Jun 2019 | 28 | 47 | 29 | +18 |
| Jul 2019 | 24 | 44 | 28 | +16 |
| Aug 2019 | 28 | 51 | 34 | +17 |
| Sep 2019 | 24 | 45 | 23 | +22 |
| Jul 2020 | 8 | 11 | 4 | +7 |
| Aug 2020 | 28 | 57 | 36 | +21 |
| Sep 2020 | 24 | 50 | 26 | +24 |
| Apr 2021 | 27 | 31 | 27 | +4 |
| May 2021 | 27 | 38 | 35 | +3 |
| Jun 2021 | 22 | 27 | 22 | +5 |
Heading into Saturday, Julio Urías has allowed 13 home runs in his 88 innings this season. Cubs starter Alec Mills has given up four homers in 33 innings.
Broadcast info
Both games this weekend are exclusive national telecasts. Saturday’s game will be called by Joe Buck and John Smoltz on Fox, along with reporter Ken Rosenthal. Joe Davis is calling Yankees-Red Sox for Fox, along with Eric Karros.
Game info
Teams: Dodgers (45-31) vs. Cubs (42-34)
Location: Dodger Stadium
Time: 4:15 p.m. PT
TV: Fox