by Cary Osborne
Washington pitcher Tanner Rainey threw a dart into the dirt in front of home plate that skipped past catcher Drew Millas in the bottom of the eighth inning at Dodger Stadium.
Run-hungry Mookie Betts could feel it.
His chance for another.
As soon as he saw the ball hit dirt, he broke from second base and then rounded third base. As he was about 60 feet down the line, he recognized that he bit off a little more than he could chew, and he pulled up short of home, surrendering the out.
It’s the only time Washington could stop Betts on Tuesday.
Twenty games into the 2024 season, roughly one-eighth of the way through, Betts had another one of those marvelous games.
He went 5-for-5 on Tuesday — tying a career-high for hits in a game. He doubled twice, scored twice and drove in two runs in the Dodgers’ 6–2 win. The Dodgers came into the game having lost four of their last five games.
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Through 20 games this season, the Dodgers have scored 106 runs. Betts has scored 22 and driven in 18 runs — the 40 runs representing 37.7% of the team’s runs scored this season.
He led off the game with a single and later scored to give the Dodgers an early 1–0 lead. Betts is now 8-for-15 with five walks and seven runs scored in the first inning this season.
He also knocked in the Dodgers’ final run of the game on an RBI single in the eighth.
“I take great pride in getting it started in whatever form or facet, and today I did a good job,” Betts said.
The Dodger shortstop now leads the big leagues with a .388 average after the Major Leagues’ first five-hit game of the season. He is batting .388/.490/.700/1.190 and ranks in the top three in the Majors in every slash line category.
But it’s another area that manager Dave Roberts points to that’s most impressive.
“I think the thing that stands out the most is his plate discipline,” Roberts said. “He’s not chasing. He really is controlling the strike zone. Even to get a hit going the other way. (And) he’s using the big part of the field. He’s obviously locked in, but he’s controlling the zone.”
Betts has swung and missed at a pitch in the strike zone just six times this season. He didn’t miss on any pitch in the zone on Tuesday.
Pages Debuts
Dodgers’ №3 prospect, according to MLB.com, Andy Pages made his Major League debut, starting in center field.
He hit the first pitch he saw in the big leagues off veteran starter Patrick Corbin for a single. He went 1-for-4 in the game.
Pages said he was intent on swinging on the first pitch. That ball is now a souvenir — one he gave to his wife Alondra, who was at Dodger Stadium to witness his first Major League game.
“It obviously felt really great to get that hit,” Pages said. “But it was kind of like a fleeting moment to feel that excitement but also like just to take it all in and then to be ready for what’s next.”
What’s next is Pages will start in right field on Wednesday.
Roberts said Dodgers №13 prospect and right-hander Landon Knack will be promoted on Wednesday and will start, making his Major League debut against the Nationals
Betts’ marvelous performance lifts the Dodgers back into win column was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.