Homer drought no more—Dodgers thump Astros

HOUSTON, TEXAS - MAY 04: Kyle Tucker #23 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a home run in the third inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on May 04, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) | Getty Images The home run drought is over, and it only took facing one of the shakiest pitching staffs in baseball for it to happen, as the Dodgers thoroughly outhit Houston in an 8-3 win. It was a win with the particularly sweet taste of seeing Kyle Tucker leave the yard in his old stomping grounds, hitting one out to right field, a place he patrolled for so many years.

Greetings from Kyle, Texas! pic. twitter.

com/EIlnnvxF4y — Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 5, 2026 Although Tucker had his home run, the first of them—the one that broke the streak—came from an unlikely source. It was Alex Freeland who left the park in the second inning, then tying the game at 2-2 after an eventful first inning in which the offense failed to capitalize on a pop fly from Tucker that dropped for an RBI single, ultimately seeing Andy Pages strand the bases loaded against Ryan Weiss. Set to be the bulk man after Steven Okert dealt with the big bad lefties in the Dodgers lineup, Weiss came in already with a big mess in the first—although he got out of it unscathed, the rest of his performance gave the Dodgers the ideal platform for a badly needed slugfest for a team that hadn’t had one of those away from home since they visited the Rockies a couple of weeks ago.

A Shohei Ohtani walk followed Freeland’s home run in the second, and he was driven in on an RBI double from Smith, then giving the Dodgers a 3-2 lead. The big damage, though, came in the following inning with a four-run spot. By the time Freddie Freeman hit a two-run single, all nine of the Dodgers’ hitters had reached base at least once, signaling a complete performance from top to bottom.