Mookie Betts struggled through the first 2 1/2 months of this season for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his batting average was below .200 on June 13.
But three months later, Betts is in top form as the Dodgers host the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night in the middle contest of a three-game series.
Betts went 3-for-4 with two homers and three RBIs in Friday’s 8-2 victory to continue a torrid September in which he is batting .356 (21-for-59) with six homers and 18 RBIs in 15 games. The homers and RBIs are the most Betts has produced in any month this season.
Betts led off Friday’s game with a homer and added a second blast in the eighth, when the Dodgers hit four home runs in the inning. Betts noted that he’s batting leadoff solely because Shohei Ohtani (left knee swelling, right biceps inflammation) is on the 15-day injured list.
“Going up there is fun,” Betts said of batting first. “It feels like home.”
Betts has back-to-back three-hit games and is batting .254 for the season, with 22 homers and 65 RBIs.
The Dodgers led by just one run entering the bottom of the eighth on Friday before they put on a power show against Giants left-hander Philip Abner.
Max Muncy and Kyle Tucker hit back-to-back homers to start the frame. Two outs later, Betts hit a two-run blast and Will Smith followed with a solo shot.
Rookie Josue De Paula delivered the go-ahead double in the sixth and had two hits and scored twice as the Dodgers prevailed for the 12th time in the past 15 games.
“I just like to feel in control of it like I’m the man in the box and I control the moment,” De Paula said of his approach.
Playoff-bound Los Angeles (94-60) trails the Milwaukee Brewers by two games in the battle for the National League’s best record.
San Francisco (64-90) has lost five of its last seven games and is missing the playoffs for the fifth straight season and ninth time in the last 10. Management said earlier this week that manager Tony Vitello will return for a second season.
The Giants haven’t named a starter for Saturday after ace right-hander Logan Webb (blister on right middle finger) was placed on the 15-day injured list.
Webb was an All-Star for the third straight season but is just 8-9 with a 4.31 ERA in 27 starts.
“It’s been a weird season,” he said before Friday’s game. “It’s been very up and down. I think as a team in general, but for myself, especially. It’s been either really good or really bad. There’s been way too many bad ones.
Left-hander Tarik Skubal (10-7, 2.70 ERA) will start for Los Angeles on Saturday. He will make his ninth start for the Dodgers since being acquired from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline last month.
Skubal is 3-2 with a 2.52 ERA in 50 innings with Los Angeles. He has 57 strikeouts against 11 walks.
Skubal, 29, is slated to become a free agent following the season but continues to fit in with the Dodgers.
After Los Angeles clinched the National League West title on Thursday, Skubal and fellow lefty Blake Snell were celebrating when Skubal said: “It’s going to be special. It’s gonna be the first of many.”
Skubal stood out in his last two outings, both victories over the Cincinnati Reds. He gave up two runs and seven hits over 14 1/3 innings, with the more recent outing coming Monday in a 4-1 win.
Skubal is 1-1 with a 2.79 ERA in two career starts against the Giants.
–Field Level Media
