‘The modern-day Rickey Henderson’: Betts keys offense at leadoff

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts sat within the house dugout three hours earlier than first pitch on Friday and held his every day scrum. Most of the questions have been in regards to the historic rivalry between the Yankees and Dodgers. 

Among different matters was simply how the Dodgers have been planning to decelerate reigning American League Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge and the remainder of the Yankees’ offense, which acquired a lift on Friday by getting Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson off the injured record. 

Shortly thereafter, Mookie Betts and the remainder of the Dodgers’ offense confirmed that they’ve loads of starpower of their very own, scoring six runs on eight hits within the first inning to cause them to an 8-4 win at Dodger Stadium.

“[He’s] the modern-day Rickey Henderson,” Roberts mentioned of Betts on 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.”

Betts led the offensive onslaught in opposition to Yankees right-hander Luis Severino together with his forty first profession leadoff homer, the ninth most in Major League historical past. Three batters later, Max Muncy joined the homer social gathering, smashing a two-run shot to provide the Dodgers a fast 3-0 lead. 

“Leading off, he’s Mookie Betts,” mentioned Heyward. “It’s very nice for us, some momentum, obviously our crowd at home feeding off of that. But then just for us to keep that up and him to come around next at-bat, hit an RBI single — to me, that was huge for us just to say, ‘We’re going to take what they give us and do our best to hit some pitches in and around the zone.’”

In the third, Martinez continued his finest stretch as a Dodger, smacking his fourth homer in his final 5 video games to increase the Dodgers’ lead. Martinez has hit eight homers throughout his present 16-game hitting streak. 

Betts and Martinez, in fact, have finished loads of harm of their careers in opposition to the Yankees as members of the Red Sox. Betts wrapped up one other dominant offensive outburst by the Dodgers with a solo shot within the sixth for his second consecutive multihomer sport. 

It’s solely the second time in Betts’ embellished profession that he has hit two or extra homers in back-to-back video games. He additionally achieved the feat on May 31 and June 1, 2016, in opposition to the Orioles. Quietly, Betts now has 15 homers, tying him with Shohei Ohtani and Yordan Alvarez for sixth within the Majors.

“Mookie has been amazing, honestly,” mentioned Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw. “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.”

The Dodgers’ firepower doesn’t solely lengthen to the lineup, although the offense has carried the way in which during the last month, scoring six or extra runs in six consecutive video games. But Kershaw additionally offered a much-needed increase on the mound, permitting two runs and hanging out 9 over seven innings. 

“He was great,” Roberts mentioned. “The stuff was what we’ve become accustomed to seeing. Life to the fastball, working in different quadrants. Slider really good. Used the curveball enough tonight. And there was a lot of soft contact, efficient innings. To get him through seven was great.”

After a dominant April that noticed him named NL Pitcher of the Month, Kershaw had considered one of his worst months of his profession, posting a 5.55 ERA in May. June obtained off to a significantly better begin as Kershaw turned the primary Dodgers starter to finish seven innings since Julio Urías on May 13 in opposition to the Padres.

Kershaw has now recorded a win in opposition to all 27 groups he’s confronted in the course of the common season. He’s solely lacking the Orioles, Red Sox and, in fact, the Dodgers.

“You’re not going to hold 22 down very long,” Betts mentioned. “That’s why he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”