The Los Angeles Dodgers’ bats stayed quiet in the first two games of their series against the San Diego Padres, then broke out in the final two, leading to back-to-back wins, including an 11-2 blowout victory in the series finale on Thursday night.
Mookie Betts led what was a home run parade for the Dodgers as he is proving to be worth every penny of the 12-year, $365 million extension he signed on the eve of Opening Day.
He homered not once, not twice, but three times in the win over the Padres to give him six career three-home run games, which ties Sammy Sosa and Johnny Mize for a Major League record. Betts is only 27 years of age, so he will have plenty of time to break the tie in a Dodger uniform.
Betts finished the night reaching base in all five of his plate appearances, also singling and being hit by a pitch, while driving in five runs. He now has a team-leading seven home runs on the season to go along with a .319/.380/.694 slashline.
He wasn’t the only Dodger to go deep on Thursday night though, as Corey Seager got things started with a two-run shot in the first inning, his fourth of the season. He missed the last five games with a back injury but picked right back up where he left off before going down.
Betts and Seager have been the Dodgers’ best two bats to begin the year, although AJ Pollock’s name belongs in that mix as well. He homered in the first inning, giving him five on the year of his own. Pollock reached base three times, also walking and doubling to raise his season batting line to .286/.355/.643.
Pollock has also had a bit of a resurgence defensively this season, making an outstanding catch in center field to rob Manny Machado of extra bases in the first inning.
The final home run of the night came off the bat of Austin Barnes, his first of the year. Barnes got off to a slow start offensively this season but has picked it up as of late, going 5-for-10 in his last three games.
Urias settles in after rough first inning
Julio Urias got the start on the mound for the Dodgers and things didn’t go well for him early as he served up back-to-back home runs to Tommy Pham and Eric Hosmer with two outs in the first inning.
He settled in nicely from there though, retiring 18 of the final 20 hitters he faced to get through 6.1 innings of two-run ball. The win improved his record to 2-0 on the season to go along with a 2.53 ERA.
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