The Los Angeles Dodgers are rolling again, and it seems as if all they needed to hit their stride once more was a heavy dose of reality.
The Dodgers will try to finish off a four-game sweep of the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon, one day after sweeping a day-night doubleheader.
Los Angeles also will try to extend its winning streak to five games, a run that started with a comeback victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.
In three previous home games against the Phillies, before the win streak began, the Dodgers watched their opponent score 29 runs. Los Angeles lost all three contests to Philadelphia but has shown much better energy since.
After winning the opener of the Tuesday doubleheader 7-6, the Dodgers rolled to a 12-3 victory in the nightcap.
Following a slow start to the season, when he was batting just .171 with a .496 OPS after 10 games, Mookie Betts has come to life of late. He is looking more like the 2018 American League MVP when he was a member of the Red Sox and the player who earned World Series championship rings with Boston in 2018 and Los Angeles in 2020.
Since April 20, Betts is batting .302 (29-for-96) with eight home runs and 17 RBIs in 24 games. He also has three home runs over his past five games after not hitting his third homer of the season until April 30 in his 19th game.
While the Dodgers have been getting victories, they have had to come back to do it four times over the past three days.
“I mean, we’re obviously a resilient team and we’re going to play 27 outs,” Betts said. “We’re going to make people earn it. I think we’re a lot better when we’re playing downhill, but right now, the cards we’re being dealt is playing from behind, so we have to play from behind.”
Try as they might, the Diamondbacks have been unable to find the same resolve. They had a 2-0 lead on the Dodgers in the fifth inning Monday, only to lose 5-4. Arizona had a 3-0 advantage in the fourth inning in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader, only to fall again.
The Diamondbacks had another 2-0 lead in the first inning of Game 2 before the Dodgers powered their way to an 8-2 lead after two innings, with three runs coming on a homer from Edwin Rios. Arizona committed three errors and walked seven batters in the second game of the twin bill.
“I thought we got off to a good start. We had a couple of solo home runs and we were ready to go,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “But we’re a young team and we did a lot of immature things today. We have to tighten that up.”
The Diamondbacks were without Ketel Marte in the second game after he injured his left hand on a swing in the doubleheader opener. He is considered day-to-day moving forward.
The doubleheader sweep Tuesday gave the Dodgers 27 victories over the Diamondbacks in the past 33 meetings.
The Diamondbacks will send right-hander Zach Davies (2-1, 3.57 ERA) to the mound Wednesday. He is 4-3 with a 2.43 ERA over 10 lifetime starts against the Dodgers.
The Dodgers will counter with right-hander Walker Buehler (4-1, 2.81 ERA), who has dominated Arizona with a 5-0 record a 1.96 ERA in 12 lifetime starts.
–Field Level Media