Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Wow!! Friday’s game was an irrefutable argument for why you need to show up to the ballpark on time. Before the game was barely 20 minutes old, the Dodgers had retired the Yankees on five pitches in the top of the first and put up six runs of their own in the bottom of the frame. Yeesh. I know that the pitch clock was gonna make things faster, but this was something else. Things settled down after that first inning, and the Dodgers eventually cruised to an 8-4 win over the New York Yankees.
Fans lucky enough to be seated at game time got quite the show. Clayton Kershaw, looking to shake off a rough month of May, got the game off to a great start. After giving up a lead off single to Gleyber Torres, he got Aaron Judge to ground into a double play on the next pitch and three pitches later, Anthony Rizzo had struck out and the Dodgers were on their way back at the bat rack.
And those bats had plenty o’ hits in them in the first inning. The Dodgers sent eleven men to the plate in that inning, scoring SIX big runs off starting pitcher Luis Severino. Mookie Betts started the fun with a leadoff home run. A couple of moments later, Max Muncy hit a two run jack. James Outman made it 4-0 with a bases-loaded RBI single and Miguel Rojas nearly hit a grand slam, but instead settled for a sac fly to tack on the fifth run of the inning.
And that got us back to the hitting hero for the day, Mr. Markus Lynn Betts. This time, Betts drilled a single through the left side of the infield to score the Dodgers’ final run of the inning, and just like that it was 6-0 for the good guys.
But Betts wasn’t done for the night. He would tally another single, a walk, and in the 6th inning, Mookie smashed his second home run of the night for the Dodgers eighth and final run of the night (J.D. Martinez hit a solo shot in the 3rd for run number seven). It was the second consecutive game in which Betts has had two homers. Obviously we’ve reached the “Mookie Betts is the best player on the planet” stage of the season.
“[He’s] the modern-day Rickey Henderson,” manager Dave Roberts said of Betts at the leadoff spot. “He’s instant offense. Getting in the box, we throw up a zero, he puts up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. Guys feed off that.”
Clayton Kershaw echoed his manager’s sentiments. “Mookie has been amazing, honestly,” said the Dodgers starter. “Mookie has had four homers in two days, that’s pretty amazing. But definitely, the top of the lineup, you can’t ease your way into the game, for sure.”
Kershaw, under fire for some fairly anodyne comments regarding the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence controversy, came through with his best start in a month.
“Just feels good to pitch good,” Kershaw said postgame. “Definitely better than the last few. Was able to get deeper into the game… Thankfully I had a good one tonight,” Kershaw said, and then added ruefully. “Feels good to think I’m not old.”
