Steve Webb
PHILADELPHIA, PA — If you haven’t noticed, Mookie Betts is good at baseball. He did almost everything in Saturday night’s contest against the Phillies, getting on base four times and falling a triple short of the cycle. But amazing as he was at the plate, perhaps the biggest play of the game came late in the game when he gunned down the go-ahead run at the plate. It was probably his best game of the year, and he led the Dodgers to a come-from-behind 7-4 victory at Citizens’ Bank Park.
Dodgers fall behind in bullpen game
The Dodgers, already strapped for pitching, went with a bullpen game in this one, and the first two pitchers out of the chute were two guys who had just come off the Covid IL, Mitch White and David Price. Neither pitcher was particularly sharp on Saturday. White gave up three runs over 2.1 innings. The big blow was a two-run jack from Alec Bohm in the bottom of the third. Price, so good in a recent win over the D-backs, didn’t really have it, either. He gave up three hits in his one inning of work, including a solo shot from Kyle Schwarber. With Aaron Nola rolling, it seemed like it wasn’t the Dodgers’ night.
Mookie helps Dodgers slowly come back
But the Dodgers crawled back in this one, thanks mostly to Mookie Betts, who continues to hit for power. He took Nola deep in the top of the third to tie the game at 1-1, and then hit a huge two-run double in the top of the fifth to bring the Dodgers to within one run at 4-3. There was a slight scare after that double when Betts lost his footing rounding second and landed awkwardly on his left arm. For a hot minute, it looked like Mookie might have seriously hurt himself, but after a visit from the training staff, he shook it off and stayed in the game.
Smith ties it with a homer
The Dodgers made it all the way back in the top of the sixth inning, when Will Smith went oppo for a solo home run. It looked like the Dodgers might get even more in the frame when the loaded up the bases against Phils reliever Brad Hand with just one out. However, they couldn’t quite get the big hit and left the bases juiced as the game went into the later innings.
Betts saves the day in the 7th
The Dodgers got two singles to lead off the 7th, but ran themselves out of the inning when Mookie Betts got picked off second. However, Betts’s miscue was more than made up for in the bottom of the inning.
The bottom of the 7th started out pretty ugly for the Dodgers. After Brusdar Graterol cruised through the 6th, Justin Briuhl came on in the next inning, and it didn’t start well at all. Briuhl walked the lead-off man Odubel Herrera on four pitches, and then hit JT Realmuto. Not great. Briuhl faced one more guy, and gave up a sac bunt to Johan Camargo, leaving Daniel Hudson with a big ol’ mess on his hands. Then, Rhys Hoskins grounded to Max Muncy, but Will Smith lost focus for a second in the rundown play, and everybody was safe.
With the bases juiced with Phillies, the Phillies best hitter not named Bryce came to the plate in the person of third baseman Alec Bohm. Hudson got two strikes on Bohm, but Bohm drilled a line drive to medium-deep right field. Sensing a tag from third, Mookie Betts came in on the ball and made the catch. He then delivered a strike to home that nailed Herrera by a good five feet. Yes, Mookie is worth the money.
Dodgers take the lead in the 8th, extend in the 9th
In the eighth Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger hit back-to-back singles to get the inning off to a good start. This sent Phils’ skipper Joe Girardi to his bullpen for Seranthony Dominguez. However, the move almost immediately backfired when Dominguez uncorked a wild pitch that moved the two runners into scoring position. Dominguez struck out Chris Taylor, but Gavin Lux came up to the plate ready for a battle.
In an eight-pitch at-bat, Lux fouled off a couple of nasty pitches from Dominguez before he got the pitch he wanted. With the count full, Luxy came up with another clutch hit, this time a run-scoring single over the drawn-in infield. It was 5-4 Dodgers. And, when Dominguez threw his second wild pitch of the inning during a Mookie Betts at-bat, Cody Bellinger scampered home with the sixth run of the night for the visitors.
Hudson got the first two out of the inning, and Alex Vesia finished off the Phillies’ eighth, setting up the ninth inning. Now leading 6-4, Austin Barnes, who had come into the game as a pinch runner, blasted the first pitch he saw for a two-out solo shot to extend the lead to 7-4.
Kimbrel converts his 9th consecutive save
Craig Kimbrel came on for the ninth, and lo and behold, he pitched a 1-2-3 inning for his ninth straight save of the year. With the victory, the Dodgers extend their winning streak to seven in a row, six of which were in come-from-behind fashion. Now assured of a series win against Philadelphia, they finish up the weekend against the Phils on Sunday morning. It’ll be a 10:30 am start PDT. Tony Gonsolin will get the start against Zach Eflin.
Cans of Corn…
- The “Mookie is overrated” crowd is pretty quiet lately
- Graterol looked very good tonight. Two scoreless innings. Three punchouts.
- Justin Turner was 3-for-4 tonight, continuing to be hot in May.
- Gavin Lux now has a .884 OPS in the last seven games.
- Not a perfect bullpen game, but good enough for a win.
- After losing the first three against the Phillies, the Dodgers have a chance to win the season series with a victory on Sunday.
