Dodgers Star Mookie Betts’ Latest Feat Adds to His All-Time Clutch Season
The Los Angeles Dodgers took a one-run lead on Tuesday in the top of the 10th inning before Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington opted to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani.
The walk put two runners on for Mookie Betts, who homered on the first pitch. It was his fifth home run in 21 games since returning from a broken hand.
Betts’ homer added to a statistical profile proving he is having the most clutch season of his career.
Through Tuesday, the Dodgers’ right fielder was hitting .344 with men on, .377 with runners in scoring position (RISP), and an insane .579 on the first pitch with RISP. He’s also batting .424 with two outs and RISP, .400 from the 10th inning on, and .432 on the first pitch of a plate appearance.
The emotion poured out of Betts as he rounded the bases.
By the time he reached home plate, he reached another level of tilt — uncharacteristic of him.
“That [display of emotion] doesn’t happen often, so I kind of [blacked] out. I just knew they walked Sho’ to get to me, and I was like alright. That’s kind of what you want,” Betts said. “I know Freddie [Freeman is] behind me, so they’re not gonna mess around.”
It was only the third time in Betts’ career that the batter before him got intentionally walked. The other two times were back in 2016 when David Ortiz got the free pass while Betts was with the Red Sox, according to SportsNet LA.
“It’s a tough situation to walk a guy that got $700 [million] to get to the guy that got $350 [million],” starting pitcher Walker Buehler joked of Ohtani and Betts. “He’s pretty good at baseball too.”
The Dodgers have kicked it into gear over their last 24 games. They’ve won 18 of them and entered Wednesday with a 5.5-game in National League West.
“You look back at the last couple weeks, we’ve played some intense baseball games,” manager Dave Roberts said after his team improved to 18-6 since Aug. 9. “So tonight against a team that’s trying to fight and play good baseball, some young players, it’s a game that you don’t want to let down.”
As long as he’s been healthy this year, Betts has delivered fewer letdowns than almost any player in baseball.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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