MAX MUNCY homered for the Dodgers on Friday(Flickr/Ian D’Andrea).

Powered in part by home runs by Shohei Ohtani and Max Muncy, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-4 at Kaufman Stadium for their fifth consecutive victory.

Ohtani’s blast – his 29th and the best in the National League – was another leadoff first inning round-tripper. Muncy’s was a two-run center field bomb that brought in Tommy Edman.
With the score tied at 4-4 in the fifth, Mookie Betts drove in Ohtani with what proved to be the winning run.

The Dodgers are now 52-31 and lead the National League West by 6.5 games over the San Francisco Giants.

In Anaheim, the Los Angeles Angels had a slugfest that ended with the visiting Washington Nationals running away with a 15-9 victory.
The Halos (40-41) were powered early by home runs by Jo Adell, Nolan Schanuel and Taylor Ward, but the Nats scored the last seven runs of the game.

The loss didn’t drop them out of third in the AL West as the Texas Rangers also lost.