Homers back Ryu as Dodgers blank A's

LOS ANGELES -- And in the 10th game of the 2018 season, the 2017 Dodgers finally showed up.
Chris Taylor, Corey Seager and Matt Kemp slugged their first homers and Hyun Jin Ryu allowed one hit with eight strikeouts over six innings Tuesday night as the Dodgers blanked the A's, 4-0.
"We haven't homered too much this year," said manager Dave Roberts. "For C.T. to get his first homer, there's a little bit of an exhale. Hyun-Jin got the lead and didn't want to relinquish it. It picked us all up."
The Dodgers, who set a franchise record last year with 221 home runs, came into this game with four home runs in their first nine games. But the ball started flying early on a warm night, as Taylor and Seager went back to back to open the bottom of the first inning.
It was the first extra-base hit of the season for Seager, who before the game was presented his Silver Slugger Award as the best hitting shortstop in the National League last year.
"Can't really have a bad night getting that award," said Seager, who also won the award in his 2016 rookie season. "It was nice to get some runs early. They've been hard to come by. Everybody knew it was coming. Now it's just a matter of repeating."

Seager's home run off Oakland left-hander Sean Manaea was blasted 440 feet with an exit velocity of 109.2 mph, per Statcast™, making it the longest and hardest-hit homers off a lefty in Seager's career.
Kemp also doubled, but the home run was a personal milestone in that it was his first as a Dodger since the 2014 National League Championship Series against St. Louis.
"That was a long time ago," said Kemp, who since then has been traded to San Diego, Atlanta and back to the Dodgers.
"A couple of us got our first ones out of the way, and now we can keep this thing going. A big first inning and we kept it going. Ryu was pitching great. I think we were firing on all cylinders tonight."
Kemp has 183 home runs as a Dodger, eighth on the all-time franchise list, and 106 at Dodger Stadium, tied with former teammate Andre Ethier.

For Taylor, it was no surprise to see him break out against an American League club. In his last 10 Interleague games, he is 20-for-40 with two homers, six doubles, nine RBIs and seven runs scored.
"That was big," said Taylor. "It's nice to be playing ahead. If we can do that, we have full confidence our pitchers can shut them down. It was great to see Ryu doing a great job keeping their hitters off balance."
• Rested Ryu spins gem against A's

Ryu, who lasted only 3 2/3 innings with five walks eight days earlier in his season debut, had a no-hitter through 4 2/3 innings. Ryu also singled and walked in two plate appearances.
Manaea gave up the homers to Taylor and Seager before recording an out, but he recovered and shut out the Dodgers for the remainder of his five innings.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Mixed results: Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen recorded his second save in as many games, striking out both batters he faced, but his velocity was down again. He fanned Jonathan Lucroy on four pitches ranging from 90.6-91.8 mph. But in striking out Stephen Piscotty, Jansen needed six pitches, and they ranged from 88.6-89.5 mph. On Sunday, Jansen hit 93.9 mph.
"He's the best closer in the game," said Taylor. "Nobody was worried about him."

Nothing historic: Piscotty, who was drafted by the Dodgers in 2009 but didn't sign, broke up Ryu's no-hitter with two out in the fifth inning with a bouncer up the middle just out of the reach of shortstop Seager. Dodgers second baseman Kiké Hernández kept Piscotty out of scoring position when he raced out to shallow center field and with his back to the plate caught Jake Smolinski's popup.

QUOTABLE
"Guys that really haven't been swinging the bats, or get rewarded, I thought put together better at-bats. It's starting to come." -- Roberts
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
The Dodgers have won 10 consecutive Interleague games at Dodger Stadium. They also have three shutout wins in 10 games. They didn't record their third shutout win last year until Game 49.
WHAT'S NEXT
Alex Wood makes his first start in seven days in Wednesday night's 7:10 PT finale against the A's. In addition to the quirky schedule and Friday night's rainout, Wood dealt with food poisoning in San Francisco, which pushed this start back an extra day.
Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.