June 06--An injury to starting pitcher Scott Kazmir put a slight damper on the Dodgers' 12-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. The left-hander left the game in the sixth inning because of cramping in his left quadriceps.
The Dodgers accumulated 14 hits, scored in six of eight innings and broke open a one-run game with a four-run outburst in the third inning, Joc Pederson driving in a run with a single and Yasmani Grandal following with a three-run home run to right field for a 7-2 lead.
Corey Seager, who hit three homers on Friday night, enjoyed his second multi-homer game in three days, driving a solo homer to center field in the fourth and a two-run shot to right in the seventh.
The rookie shortstop, who leads the team in home runs (14), runs batted in (35) and runs (38), also hit a bloop RBI single to left in the fifth, capping a week in which Seager hit .370 (10 for 27) with six homers, a 1.037 slugging percentage and 11 RBIs.
Enrique Hernandez homered to center in the second, and Adrian Gonzalez doubled in a run in a two-run first, as the Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the Braves and moved four games over .500 (31-27) for the first time since April 21, when they were 10-6.
Kazmir gave up two runs on four hits in the first inning, which featured Jeff Francoeur's RBI double and Nick Markakis' RBI single.
He blanked Atlanta on one hit over the next four innings, but after Francoeur doubled and Markakis singled to open the sixth, Manager Dave Roberts and one of the team's athletic trainers came to the mound, and Kazmir was pulled from the game.
Kazmir hurt his left wrist in spring training while swinging a bat. The injury flared up in May to a point where the Dodgers ordered Kazmir not to swing during his at-bats. Kazmir felt good enough to swing in his last two starts, and he had a bloop single to left in the third inning and lined a single to left in the fifth on Sunday.
The injury to Kazmir's leg is not believed to be serious, but with the Dodgers holding a 9-3 lead when he departed, there was no need to push him. Kazmir gave up three runs and seven hits in five innings, striking out five and walking two, to improve to 5-3 with a 4.46 earned-run average.
