Dodgers’ Mookie Betts celebrates his home run in the dugout with his teammates during the fourth inning against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday in Washington. (Nick Wass / Associated Press)
Mookie Betts wasn’t supposed to be in the lineup Tuesday, scheduled for a rare day off after a recent tear at the plate.
But center fielder Cody Bellinger woke up not feeling well, according to manager Dave Roberts. The team had to tweak its plans. And Betts asked to stay in the lineup as the leadoff hitter.
“He came to me,” Roberts later recalled, “and said, ‘I know we talked about taking the day off. But I want to be in there.’”
In his latest dominant display, Betts made the decision count.
With two home runs that gave him the National League lead with 12, Betts led the way in the Dodgers’ 9-4 win against the Washington Nationals.
He erased the Dodgers’ early deficit with a three-run blast in the second. He added on in their blowout with a solo shot in the fourth. He also had a walk and base hit, continuing a month-long stretch that Roberts believes has been Betts’ best in a Dodgers uniform.
“He’s playing MVP-type baseball, he really is,” Roberts said. “He’s scoring runs at a crazy clip. He’s on base. He’s slugging at a ridiculous clip too. And he’s playing Gold Glove defense. He’s making the game look a lot easier than it is.”
When Betts hit his first home run, Tuesday’s game was still up in the air.
The Dodgers (29-13) had taken an early 2-0 lead on Trea Turner’s two-run blast in the top of the first, but the Nationals responded by scoring three times against Walker Buehler in the bottom of the inning on four hits and a run-scoring error.
After Chris Taylor singled and Gavin Lux walked, however, Betts got hold of an inside slider from Josiah Gray, taking the former Dodgers prospect deep with a line drive that sneaked just inside the foul pole in left.
“Pretty normal,” Betts said when asked about his confidence level of late….