BALTIMORE — As far as textbook wins go, the Dodgers performance Tuesday was pretty close.
The team scored five runs in the second inning, got five innings out of starting pitcher Michael Grove and beat the Baltimore Orioles 10-3 to win for the fourth time in five games coming out of the All-Star break
The second-inning outburst began in a hurry.
J.D. Martinez drew a leadoff walk. David Peralta followed with a single. Then Jason Heyward hammered a 2-and-0 fastball from Orioles starter Tyler Wells, launching his ninth homer of the season to straightaway center for a 3-0 lead.
From there, the Dodgers tacked on a couple more runs, getting RBI singles from Freddie Freeman and Will Smith.
Then, they turned the lead over to Grove, who delivered one of the better starts of his young MLB career.
The right-hander gave up one run in the bottom of the second after a leadoff walk and Aaron Hicks double, but blanked the Orioles the rest of the way, his first start of at least five innings and fewer than four runs since April 15.
The outing finished with a whimper, Grove getting pulled after a leadoff double and walk in the sixth inning.
Yency Almonte, however, escaped the jam.
And from there, with the Dodgers adding four insurance runs in the seventh and another in the eighth, the game wasn’t in doubt again.
