Gavin Lux Serves a Grand Slam in Both Dodger Sweeps

Gavin Lux Serves a Grand Slam in Both Dodger Sweeps – Weekly Recap: May 17-23

With Seager out due to a broken hand, Lux was getting his chance to take over at short all week. We’ve seen Lux start to swing a hot bat since May rolled around, and now we were going to see if he could keep it up moving to short. He had big shoes to fill, but he seemed up to the challenge, and he certainly showed up.

Gavin Lux vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

May 17 – Lux Buys Some Insurance

Lux opened up the series against the D-backs, reaching base three times. The first time up, he drew a walk against Bumgarner but was left stranded on base. His next time up, he doubled with one out and moved the runner on base over to third but was once again left stranded. In a 2-1 game, he came up in the 8th with two outs and a runner on third and singled to give the Dodgers an insurance run and they went onto win 3-1. 

May 18 – Gavin Lux Grand Slam #1

Lux continued to hit the ball well in this game of the series as well. While he didn’t reach in his first two at-bats, he did get it going in the last two. His first hit of the game came in the 6th with two down when he took a fastball and punched it the opposite way for a base hit. His next AB was the big one. On a slider from Kevin Ginkel with two outs and the bases loaded, Lux hit his first career grand slam to put the Dodgers on top 8-1 in the 7th inning. 

GRAND SLAM GAVIN LUX. pic.twitter.com/LwrPNr44FZ

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 19, 2021

May 19 – Walk Becomes Key Run Scored

Gavin didn’t see much action in this game until the 7th inning. He drew a walk, but it ended up being a big one.  Lux came around to score when Rojas couldn’t catch Smith’s fly ball, allowing Lux and Taylor to score and take a 3-2 Dodgers lead. He singled in his fourth and final AB of the game but was left stranded.

May 20 – On-Base Streak Ends

Lux went 0-for-3 for the first time in over a week when he struck out three times in the series finale against the Dbacks. This ended an eight-game on-base streak for Lux and was his first three strikeout game of the season.

Gavin Lux @ San Francisco Giants

May 21 – Two Hit Game

It only took one game for Lux to get back going at the plate again. In the series opener against the Giants, he beat out an infield single in the 4th inning for his first hit of the game. His sprint speed is ranked in the 96th percentile, so Lux beating out infield base hits shouldn’t be a surprise to any Dodger fan at this point. His next time up, he hit a ball to right-center and cruised into second with a stand-up double. He was left stranded both times he reached.

May 22 – Lux Scores Again

Lux’s only hit in this game came in the 7th inning. He had a broken-bat single to lead off the inning and came around to score on Beaty’s double, giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. 

May 23 – Gavin Lux In Leadoff, Grand Slam #2

With Mookie out of the lineup on Sunday, Lux was in the leadoff spot, and boy did he show up. He lined a base hit to left field at 100.7 MPH on the first pitch of the game. He tried to get himself into scoring position early on but was thrown out trying to steal second. His AB in the 3rd inning blew the game wide open. With two outs and the bases juiced, Lux hit his second(!) grand slam of the week. He hit it 413 feet to dead center for the second furthest hit of the game, only behind Muncy’s home run. (Lux 2 out numbers) His home run put the Dodgers up 10-0 and all but sealed the deal on the sweep. 

Gavin didn’t reach base again for the rest of the game, but he did make a diving play in the 5th to end the inning and keep Urías perfect game intact. The perfect game did end the next inning when a slow roller was hit to Lux, and he couldn’t make the barehanded play. It would’ve been a tough play, to begin with, and didn’t end up mattering as Urías gave up two more after that.

Blow the whistle! pic.twitter.com/32CKFDDbRu

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 23, 2021

Nobody on the Dodgers outside of Max Muncy has been hotter than Gavin Lux. He’s found the power stroke. He’s lining base hits to the opposite field. While the strikeouts are still there, those won’t matter much if he keeps hitting the ball like this. We already see that he’s been a significant upgrade defensively at short, and his bat has been right there as well. With Bellinger and McKinstry returning to the team soon, Lux will be a different hitter from the last time we saw them all in there. This offense is about to get very fun very soon.

WEEKLY STATS

BA: .262

OPS: .697

R: 4 (14)

Hits: 10 (34)

RBI: 9 (22)

AB: 26 (130)

BB: 2 (9)

2B: 2 (4)

3B: 0 (2)

HR: 2 (3)

SB: 0 (1)

For last week’s recap, click here.

For the latest Gavin Lux stats, click here.

Photo Credit – Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images