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Mookie Betts understands the strategy.
That doesn’t mean the implication doesn’t bother him.
Five times since Betts and Shohei Ohtani flipped spots in the Dodgers’ lineup late last season — Ohtani moving to the leadoff spot, and Betts to the two-hole — opposing teams have intentionally walked Ohtani to bring Betts to the plate.
On almost every occasion, Betts has made it a regrettable decision.
That was the case again Wednesday in the Dodgers’ 9-3 win over the Athletics; a game that was close until Betts broke it open in the eighth, coming through once more after a free pass to Ohtani.
The Dodgers are calling up top prospect Dalton Rushing and designating longtime backup catcher Austin Barnes for assignment.
With one out in the inning, and Kiké Hernández standing at second base after being bunted over by Miguel Rojas following his leadoff single, the Athletics made the sensible choice. Manager Mark Kotsay elected to intentionally walk Ohtani, trying to avoid disaster with his club facing a 4-3 deficit. He instead wanted reliever Tyler Ferguson in a right-on-right matchup against Betts, whose up-and-down start to the season had once again been on the decline with seven hitless at-bats to begin this week’s series.
Ever since this phenomenon began last September, Betts has repeatedly acknowledged the logic behind it.
“I mean, I get it,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to pitch to Shohei either. I understand.”
But the more it has happened, the more Betts has seemed to take it personally. And on Wednesday, he let the A’s know exactly how he felt.
In a 2-and-1 count, Betts got a fastball over the heart of the plate and drove it deep to the right-center field gap. Hernández scored easily. Ohtani raced home behind him. As Dodger Stadium erupted in celebration, however, no one screamed louder than Betts.
As the former MVP and eight-time All-Star pulled into second base, he immediately turned toward the visiting first-base dugout, clenched his fists and — with three separate, pointed shouts — bellowed, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” in the Athletics’ direction. There was no smile, or sigh of relief. Just a brief display of the contempt he so obviously felt.
“Just let some emotion go,” Betts said afterward. “You’re just in the game, and you kind of get lost in it.”
In his five at-bats following an intentional walk to Ohtani, Betts is now three for four with seven RBIs, including:
- A three-run home run in extra innings at Angel Stadium last September.
- A tie-breaking ninth-inning single against the Atlanta Braves a few weeks after that.
- A bases-loaded walk last week in Miami, doubling a seventh-inning lead from one run to two.
- And Wednesday’s double, which when combined with Max Muncy’s three-run homer three batters later turned what had been a close game into a six-run laugher.
“To be quite frank, it was the right baseball decision, given how Mookie was swinging the bat [compared to] Shohei,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, with Betts batting .263 to Ohtani’s .304 average.
“But it was good,” Roberts said of the outcome. “Sometimes that kind of unlocks a player. It locks them in a little bit more when you take things personal. And for him to come through in that moment — it seems like when things like that do happen, he seems like he comes through more times than not.”
Betts offered a similar take, noting that “choosing to pitch to Shohei is probably, a lot of times, a losing battle” and that “I hadn’t hit anything all day,” having left two runners stranded on a flyout that ended the sixth inning in his previous at-bat.
“I’m sure if you look at the percentages,” Betts continued, “it probably adds up in their favor, for sure.”
Still, as soon as Betts watched Rojas lay down his sacrifice bunt with Ohtani on deck, “I knew when he was walking to the plate they weren’t going to pitch to him.”
So, he entered a different, more revenge-minded headspace.
“I just tried to mentally prepare to do something great,” he said.
That wasn’t the only example of greatness the Dodgers (28-15) received Wednesday.
Ohtani and Andy Pages both hit leadoff homers in the first and second innings, giving the team an early 2-0 lead.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-3, 2.12 ERA) grinded out a quality six-inning, three-run start even though his velocity was down a tick and his usually pristine command remained spotty for a fourth-consecutive outing — evidenced by a hanging first-pitch curveball Tyler Soderstrom hit for a two-run homer in the third, and a leadoff walk in the fourth that set up Miguel Andujar for a go-ahead double.
Hyeseong Kim also continued his hot start to his MLB career, leveling the score at 3-3 in the fifth with a wallscraping line drive for his first big-league blast. He also added an infield single, raising his batting average to .360 since being called up two weeks ago, and made a couple nice plays defensively in his first start at Dodger Stadium.
“As a person who always dreamed to play in this stadium, I’m really happy,” Kim, a childhood Dodgers fan while growing up in South Korea, said through interpreter Joe Lee. “I’m really thrilled right now.”
Rojas, meanwhile, had perhaps the night’s biggest hit in the sixth, coming off the bench for a pinch-hit double that scored Michael Conforto all the way from first to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.
“I just thought that tonight we competed really well,” Roberts said. “I thought the fight with our guys was really good.”
Still, after watching the upstart Athletics (22-21) explode for 11 runs in Tuesday’s series opener, the Dodgers knew more late-game breathing room might be required. That, Betts added, was also part of the reason he was so animated after his game-sealing double.
“We just needed something to happen to ensure a win there,” he said. “It was a mix of happiness for myself and the boys.”
Plus, his reaction so clearly epitomized, a dash of disrespect being released, as well.
“I do like the way that he takes it personally,” Roberts said. “I think that you could see that frustration kind of come out, with the joy.”
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