LA Dodgers feel Corey Seager's power in victory over Atlanta Braves

The Dodgers have not labeled this season a youth movement. But it has become one – luckily for them.

Rookie shortstop Corey Seager hit three home runs and combined with Trayce Thompson to produce all of the Dodgers offense in a 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves, 4-2, Friday night.

Seager is the first Dodgers rookie to hit three home runs in a game since Don Demeter did it at the Coliseum on April 21, 1959. Thompson added his own solo home run and a double, all the hits the Dodgers managed against the Braves.

Seager or Thompson — each in their first full seasons in the big leagues — can claim the team lead in home runs, runs, RBI, hits, total bases (all Seager’s), slugging percentage, OPS and OPS-plus (Thompson’s).

Given the frequently-somnambulant state of the Dodgers’ offense (and the ongoing slumps of more established hitters like Yasmani Grandal, Justin Tuer and Carl Crawford), the prospects of an offense devoid of their 25-and-under demographic (a group that includes Seager and Thompson’s housemate, Joc Pederson) are not attractive.

As it is, the Dodgers were cowed by Julio Teheran most of the night. He retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced, only a walk to Grandal marring the procession.

But Seager led off the fourth iing with a drive into the right-field pavilion. Thompson matched him in the fifth iing and Seager did it again in the sixth. In the eighth, he wedged another solo shot into the seats down the left-field line, just beyond the reach of Braves outfielder Mallex Smith.

The three-homer night gives Seager a team-high 12 already this season — second only to Colorado’s Trevor Story (15) among full-time shortstops (May Machado has 14 while splitting time between third base and shortstop). Thompson is in his shadow with nine.

That was all the offense the Dodgers managed against the woeful Braves, not terribly surprising given their lack of production at home. Going into Friday, only the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays had scored fewer runs at home than the Dodgers, who have averaged 3.4 per game at Dodger Stadium this season (a run and a half less than their road average).

Kenta Maeda isn’t a rookie in the same sense that Seager and Thompson are. But his first year with the Dodgers has been filled with ups and downs. Friday’s start qualified as an up.

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Maeda was touched for an uneaed run in the first iing when a passed ball by Grandal moved Freddie Freeman into scoring position and Adonis Garcia drove him in with a two-out RBI single.

Again in the second iing, the Braves pushed across a run against Maeda. Singles by Tyler Flowers, Teheran and Mallex Smith were good for that one.

But Maeda retired 14 of the next 17 batters he faced, pitching into the seventh iing despite cracking the 100-pitch barrier for only the third time in his 11 starts. Maeda threw a season-high 107 pitches after getting an extra day between starts to rest a sore right hand (caused by a line drive back to the mound in his start at Citi Field last Saturday).

Maeda handed a one-run game over to the bullpen and Adam Liberatore, Joe Blanton and Kenly Jansen combined to close it out.