LOS ANGELES _ So the latest All-Star vote totals were released last week, and Matt Kemp had more votes than Bryce Harper.
We're not here to rehash the fairy tale, about how the guy who wasn't supposed to make the team has emerged as one of its indispensable parts. We're here to talk about how the guy who was acquired more for his contract than for his talent really is having a better season than the guy who was supposed to be months away from the richest contract in sports history.
He had more votes last week than Harper, Buster Posey or Kris Bryant. He is in line to make his first All-Star appearance in six years.
Kemp drove in four of the Los Angeles Dodgers' first five runs on Sunday. He hit the game-winning home run in the eighth inning of a 6-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies, enabling the Dodgers to snap a three-game losing streak and move within 2 { games of the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West.
Kenley Jansen worked the ninth inning for his 22nd save. He has converted 20 consecutive save opportunities.
Kemp ranks second among NL outfielders with an .889 OPS (on-base plus slugging). Harper ranks seventh, at .841.
Kemp is batting .310 with a .348 on-base percentage, 14 home runs and 51 runs batted in. Harper is batting .216 with a .366 on-base percentage, 20 home runs and 49 RBI.
Kemp drove in each of the Dodgers' first three runs _ on a ground out in the first inning, a double in the third and a single in the fifth. Kemp started the day with two hits in his previous 36 at-bats.
He is more than halfway to his first 100-RBI season since 2015, for the San Diego Padres. In his nine previous seasons with the Dodgers, he drove in 100 runs twice.
Max Muncy reached base four times, on two singles and two walks. Of all the NL players with at least 200 plate appearances, he is the only one with an OPS above 1.000.
The Dodgers' Ross Stripling rebounded from a rocky start to hold the Rockies at bay through six innings. Stripling, so dominant for so long, gave up four runs and nine hits � season highs in each category _ as his earned-run average rose to 2.27.
The Rockies peppered him for seven hits in the first three innings, but a beautiful diving stop by first baseman Cody Bellinger turned an extra-base hit into an out and saved Stripling from disaster in a two-run third inning.
In his past three starts, Stripling has given up 24 hits and eight runs in 17 innings. In his previous three starts, he gave up 12 hits and four runs in 18 innings.
The game included a bizarre moment, when Colorado starter Chad Bettis was on deck in the fourth inning. Bettis was about to bat when he left the on-deck circle, retreating into the dugout and then into the clubhouse.
The Rockies said Bettis had experienced a recurrence of what they called a "hot spot" on the middle finger of his pitching hand.
