The Los Angeles Dodgers picked up their third win of the season with a 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, which was backed by a dominant outing from Bobby Miller and four home runs on offense.
Mookie Betts started the scoring and continued his red-hot start by hitting a record-breaking leadoff home run in the first inning, his third long ball of the year.
Betts has 29 leadoff home runs with the Dodgers, which set a new franchise record, breaking a tie with Davey Lopes. He also broke a tie with Ian Kinsler to take sole possession of fifth place in MLB history with 29 career leadoff bombs.
In the second inning, Teoscar Hernández blasted his first home run of the season by doing what he does best: mashing lefties.
Despite already getting burned by Hernández, the Cardinals decided to pitch to him again in the fourth inning with the same lefty on the mound, and the result was the same.
Mookie Betts status: Still on fire.
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: @Dodgers) pic.twitter.com/1Etd44TMmv
— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) March 30, 2024
#Dodgers: Hey Teoscar, crush lefties.
Teoscar: Bet
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— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) March 30, 2024
Bobby Miller is off to a
start
(— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) March 30, 2024
Have a night, Teoscar Hernández!
(— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) March 30, 2024
Bobby Miller let it eat for likely his final batter of the night.
(— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) March 30, 2024
Standing ovation for Bobby Miller as he walked off the field, presumably his final inning. pic.twitter.com/as44NXhYyr
— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) March 30, 2024
Bobby Miller strikes out 11, completing six dominant shutout innings with a punctuation mark. pic.twitter.com/0kNtYmWuzK
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) March 30, 2024
Shortstop second baseman Mookie Betts with a nice diving catch. pic.twitter.com/iUeHAcuhNf
— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) March 30, 2024
Miguel Rojas joined the homer party.
(— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) March 30, 2024
Hernández slugged his second homer of the game, this time with two runners on base to increase the Dodgers’ lead to five runs.
Miguel Rojas also provided some insurance with a solo home run in the seventh inning, his first of the season, and reaching that mark far quicker than he did in 2023.
On the mound, Miller had everything working as he tossed six scoreless innings. The right-hander only gave up two hits, which included 3.2 perfect innings until Nolan Gorman singled in the fourth.
Miller ran into some trouble in the sixth inning after Masyn Winn singled and Paul Goldschmidt walked, but he ended the threat by punching out Nolan Gorman.
In total, Miller had 11 strikeouts on the night, which set a career-high for him, surpassing his total of nine during his rookie season.
Dodgers bullpen struggles but finishes off win
After Miller exited the game, the Cardinals were able to rally against Michael Grove, who loaded the bases in the eighth inning after a scoreless seventh. Ryan Braiser took over on the mound with no outs, and promptly gave up a two-run double to Gorman before Arendao cut the Dodgers’ lead in half with a sacrifice fly.
Brasier came back to retire the next two hitters. In the ninth, Evan Phillips took over and worked a perfect inning for his second save of the year.
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