Now 8-for-15, Betts feeling at home in Miami

August 28th, 2022

MIAMI -- led a group of Dodgers players inside the visiting clubhouse at loanDepot Park just a few hours before first pitch. There were plenty of sleepy faces among the group given the earlier-than-usual start time of noon ET.

Three pitches into the game, Betts jumped on an Edward Cabrera changeup and made sure to give the Dodgers a jolt of energy that could only be rivaled by some Cuban coffee found in South Florida, smashing his 36th career leadoff homer to help the Dodgers come away with an 8-1 win over the Marlins on Sunday afternoon at loanDepot Park.

With the victory, the Dodgers’ magic number to win the NL West is at 16.

“Today I would say probably more than other days, because it’s really kind of a nine o’clock game for us,” Betts said of the importance of his leadoff homer. “I think that kind of woke us up a little bit, that I was able to do that. I do whatever I can to help us win.”

After his 3-for-5 performance on Sunday -- in which he came a triple shy of the cycle -- Betts has done more than enough to help the Dodgers win this weekend. Betts is now 8-for-15 with four homers and two doubles with one game still remaining in the four-game series against the Marlins.

His recent power surge now gives him 31 homers this season, one shy of tying his career high. It’s a stretch that is reminiscent of the one he had in May, when he hit 12 homers over 28 games.

“He’s just swinging the bat so well,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “He’s playing his tail off. … Obviously when he’s like this, he stays in the strike zone and it seems like every swing he takes is center-cut.”

Betts always likes to say he tries to make history every time he takes the field. That’s the type of standard he holds himself up to, even though achieving that is practically impossible. But he’s enjoyed some of that in Miami.

On Friday, he became MLB’s all-time leader in multihomer games out of the leadoff spot. Twenty-four hours later, he accounted for the Dodgers’ only run against Marlins’ ace and NL Cy Young frontrunner Sandy Alcantara. And on Sunday, he climbed up another list, tying Shin-Soo Choo for 11th most leadoff home runs in Major League history. He needs one more to tie Ichiro Suzuki and break into the top 10.

“Yeah, it’s been a good couple days or whatever,” said Betts, who doesn’t usually hype up his accomplishments. “I’m just swinging at decent pitches. I know I’ve swung a little more out of the zone than I’d like to, but the pitches I’m getting to hit, I’m just hitting them.”

With Betts leading the way, the Dodgers were able to revive the offense following a quiet night on Saturday. Justin Turner and Austin Barnes each chipped in with two RBIs and  hit a Statcast-projected 413-foot homer with an exit velocity of 111.9 mph, making it the hardest-hit ball of his career.

That was plenty of run support for left-hander , who battled his command but still managed to continue his dominant run since the All-Star break. Urías said he wasn’t pleased with his inconsistent delivery and the four walks he allowed.

“What I really dislike the most is to walk people, and I gave up a lot of walks today,” Urías said in Spanish. “But I just have to go back and look at the tape to see what adjustments I can make.”

Despite his displeasure with his outing, Urías won’t have to make many adjustments moving forward. He only allowed one run on one hit -- a home run to Brian Anderson in the fourth -- and struck out seven over six innings. The Mexican left-hander is 7-1 since the All-Star break, allowing six runs over 50 innings.

A noon start on the East Coast is challenging for most teams, but this Dodgers club has proven that it isn’t bothered by those factors. It also helps when you have stars like Betts and Urías who can overpower opposing teams, as was the case on Sunday.

“Julio was ready to go, set the tone and everyone followed,” Roberts said. “I thought the fastball command was good, the life to it was good; he wasn’t threatened at all today. Then we just got to the [bullpen] and kept adding on. It’s kind of the formula we’ve had for quite some time.”