Rojas, Rosario deliver ice-breaking homers in rout

LOS ANGELES -- Miguel Rojas walked back into the home dugout and none of his teammates said a word. Rojas had just hit his first homer in over a year and his teammates were playing a prank on him.

Rojas made sure there was still a party, celebrating on his own, using all the dances the team has come up with over the course of the season. After a few seconds, Rojas was mobbed by his teammates in celebration.

The entire Dodgers lineup took turns celebrating and dancing on Wednesday, as every position player who took the field reached safely at least once in the 10-1 blowout win over the A’s at Dodger Stadium.

“I knew the guys were gonna play a trick on me and do the silent treatment and all that,” Rojas laughed. “But the most important thing is how we’ve been hitting left-handed pitchers this series, it’s been good to watch.”

It didn’t take long for the Dodgers to jump on the A’s, who hold the worst record in the Majors. Mookie Betts led off the game with a double and scored on a Freddie Freeman single. Largely because of some shoddy A’s defense, L.A. scored two more times in the first frame.

In the second, the Dodgers had some loud swings off A’s starter Hogan Harris. Again, it was Betts that started the rally, blasting his team-leading 29th homer of the season, a solo shot, to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead. Three batters later, Amed Rosario hit his first homer as a Dodger, a two-run blast to push the Dodgers’ lead to seven runs through two innings.

“Being surrounded by superstars, it makes you feel good,” Rosario said. “It makes me work harder, because I want to be like them in the future.”

Then it was Rojas’ turn in the third to join the homer party. Rojas jumped on a heater in the middle of the plate and just got it over the left-field wall. The Dodgers’ shortstop was 1-for-21 since the start of the current nine-game homestand and hadn’t homered since June 26, 2022.

“It’s not my first one [home run], but it feels like it,” Rojas said. “Our hitting coach, Aaron Bates, has been working a lot of hours with me to try to get that one, and not just that, but to get me going offensively the whole year.”

In the sixth, Jason Heyward also had a first this season. Pinch-hitting for Betts -- who was taken out of the game because of the lopsided score -- Heyward jumped on the first pitch he saw and blasted it a handful of rows up the right-field pavilion.

For Heyward, it was his first hit this season against a left-hander, and his first home run vs. a lefty since May 17, 2021.

“Just wanted to get ready to hit. Get a good pitch to hit. Try not to miss it,” Heyward said. “Especially coming off the bench against a guy out of the bullpen, because once he gets ahead, he can make some really good pitches.”

With the offense clicking, the Dodgers didn’t require much from Tony Gonsolin, who allowed one run over five innings. Despite limiting the damage, Gonsolin made it through just five innings for a fourth straight start, needing 84 pitches while striking out three and allowing five hits.

Over the next two months and into the postseason, the Dodgers still need to figure out how they’re going to pitch their way to wins. But the offense has been extremely consistent this season and has a chance to carry them to where they want to be at the end of the year.

“I think the first two games [in this series], we’ve shown the ability to control the strike zone, stress the starter, get deep into their ‘pen,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “I think that’s a sign of a very good ballclub.”