Jim Cella
LOS ANGELES—On Feb. 10, the 106-win Dodgers gave their fans expectations of an even more powerful offense when they traded for Mookie Betts. On Aug. 13 those expectations were finally realized when Betts hit three home runs and led Los Angeles’ “Blue Dynamite” offense that hammered out six homers, recorded 13 hits and steamrolled San Diego 11-2.
Betts, Corey Seager, AJ Pollock and Austin Barnes all went yard as the Dodgers completed one-third of the 60-game schedule. The victory keeps the Dodgers’ series unbeaten string intact in 2020. Los Angeles is now 4-0-2 in their five series this year. The Dodgers also move two full games ahead of the Padres and jump into a tie with Colorado for the division lead with a 13-7 overall record.
GAME RECAP: The game didn’t start out as a 9-run walk in the park. San Diego struck for the first two runs of the game and took a 2-0 lead. Tommy Pham and Eric Hosmer hit back-to-back, 2-out home runs off of LA starter Julio Urías in the top of the first to take the early momentum. Los Angeles wasted little time in taking the game right back from San Diego. Betts got beaned by a fast ball on the second pitch of the bottom of the inning and then Seager, playing in his first game back since sitting out with back pain, connected on an 0-2 fastball and drilled it 405 feet into the right-center seats. Pollock would come through with the eventual game-winning run three batters later when he turned on a belt-high, mediocre fastball and bombed it 428 feet into the right field bleachers.
The route began in earnest when Betts hit the first of his three homers in the second inning. Chris Taylor doubled down the right field line with one out and then Betts joined the 400-foot club when he went “oppo” on the first pitch he saw and belted a 404-foot shot to right center to stake the Dodgers to a 5-2 lead.
Pollock added his second RBI of the night when he doubled home Turner in the third inning and then Los Angeles scored three times in the fourth to push the lead to 9-2. Austin Barnes, who has finally found his bat, drilled his first HR of the year which plated Taylor and Betts went deep on an 0-2 off-speed pitch in the very next at-bat.
The Dodgers finished off the scoring in the fifth on Betts’ third long ball. Taylor beat out an infield single to shortstop and Betts waited on a 3-1 pitch and delivered it into the new seating area beyond the left-center wall.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
SERIES STUFF: The last time the Dodgers lost a series was last season on Sept. 6-8 at home against San Francisco. Since then they have gone 9-0-3 in their 12 series. Los Angeles has only lost one series to the Padres since 2018. They are now 10-1-1 against San Diego in the last 12 series between the teams. LA is 255-190 against the Padres in all games played at Dodger Stadium.
OBSCURE STAT OF THE DAY: The Dodgers are now 5-1 when Betts hits in the leadoff spot in the batting order.
THE JOY OF SIX: The three home runs marked the sixth time in his career that Betts has gone yard a trio of times in a single game. That ties the MLB record for most three-HR games. Johnny Mize (1936-53) and Sammy Sosa (1989-07) also had three home runs in six different games. It was also Betts’ 17th multi-homer game of his career and first in a Dodger uniform. Betts finished the night by going 4-for-4 with 4 runs scored and 5 RBI.
HE SAID IT: “Shocking no, but I think it’s pretty cool. It’s more about the rings.”—Mookie Betts when asked if he was shocked to hear that he tied the MLB record for most games with three homers.
HE SAID IT 2: “We do realize how special a player he is but to see it on a nightly basis we don’t take it for granted. He makes everybody look better. He’s a very unselfish player.”—Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts when asked if he realizes how special of a player Betts is.
THE JOY OF SIX 2: Los Angeles cranked out six homers in the series finale which a season-high. Their top HR mark before Thursday was four (Aug. 7 vs. Giants). The last time the Dodgers hit six, or more, long balls was Sept. 2 of last season when they connected on seven against Colorado. LA had three games last year with at least six HRs and two were at home (Colorado and season opener (8) vs. Arizona).
UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE DAY: “Today was a good day. I hope we can build off this.”—Betts on the success of the Dodgers on Thursday.
THE CITY OF POWER: The six home runs on Thursday push the Dodgers into the MLB lead for long balls this year. The Dodgers have belted 36 in their first 20 games. They are currently two homers ahead of the Angels.
A 2-HR WAKE-UP CALL: Urías gave up home runs to two of the first four batters he faced on Thursday but then shut the door and blanked the Padres in his 6.1 innings of work. He only gave up two hits in his final 5.2 innings and didn’t allow a runner to reach second base during that stretch. At one point he sat down nine consecutive Padres’ hitters and he finished off his fourth start by retiring 17 of the final 19 batters he faced. Urías finished with 86 pitches and earned his second win of the year. He is now 2-0 with a 2.53 ERA.
HE SAID IT 3: “It may sound funny but I liked the way that it happened. It woke me up. Today I went out there and attacked.”— Julio Urías on the two home runs in the first four batters and what was successful for him after that.
HE SAID IT 4: “I just love the way he bowed his neck after that half. Just being on the attack and being aggressive with all his pitches.”—Dave Roberts on Urías’ determination and pitching after the first-inning homers.
MR. UNDER THE RADAR: Taylor went 3-for-4 and scored three times on Thursday. He is quietly putting together another solid season. Taylor has hit safely in his last three games and he has been on base in 9 of the past 10 games. In his last three games he is hitting .545 (6-for-11) which upped his season average to .288. Give yourself a high 5 if you knew that Turner leads the team in on-base percentage (.400) this season.
DRIVER 8: While other Dodger players have had their ups and downs, Turner just hits. He went 1-for-3 on Thursday and has now hit safely in eight games which is his longest hit streak of the season and ties for the longest by a Dodger player this year (Betts, Seager). He is hitting .321 in the past eight games. Turner’s longest career hit streak is 16 games which happened back in 2017.
BULLPEN BLAH, BLAH, BLAH: You didn’t think we could finish off a recap without giving the Blue Pen their due. You guessed it, another scoreless outing for the Dodgers’ relievers. On Thursday it was Dennis Santana, Jake McGee and Dylan Floro who put up the doughnut. Santana went the longest with a 1.2-inning stint. McGee started the ninth, labored through 24 pitches to get two outs and then Floro struck out the only batter he faced to end the night. The 2.2 innings in the series finale brings the LA bullpen’s streak to 14.1 consecutive innings without allowing a run in the series. The Blue Pen has gone 20.1 consecutive innings without conceding a score. In the last 16 games they have a 0.96 ERA and now have a 1.20 ERA for the entire season. Yes, they are good.
ON DECK: The Dodgers finally get a chance to step outside the NL West. After playing 14 straight games against divisional opponents, Los Angeles will face off against a pair of AL West foes. The Dodgers will head down I-5 to Anaheim a 3-game series with the Angels over the weekend and then battle Seattle in a 2-game home-and-home series. The good news for the Dodgers is that neither the Angels or Mariners have a winning record this year.
It will be Kershaw Day in the opener against the Angles on Friday. Clayton Kershaw gets his third start of 2020 after a “good news/bad news” situation in his first two starts. He won his opener by pitching 5.2 scoreless innings against Arizona and then gave up four earned runs on seven hits in 4.1 frames vs. the Giants. Kershaw is 6-2 with a 2.56 ERA in his 11 career starts against the Angels. He is also 3-2 with a 3.21 ERA at Anglel Stadium. The Dodgers are scheduled to face a left-handed pitcher for the first time in 14 games. The last time they saw a lefty starter was on July 30 when they beat Robbie Ray 6-3. The Dodgers will go up against Patrick Sandoval who is 0-1 with a 2.70 ERA in his two starts in 2020. He last pitched on Aug. 8 at Texas when he was saddled with a loss after giving up two runs in 6.0 innings pitched. This will be the first time in his 2-year MLB career that he has taken the bump against the Dodgers.
