Mookie Betts had a third four-hit game during his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and it helped propel them to a 10-6 win over the Miami Marlins in the opener of their road trip.
A bullpen game for the Marlins panned out as a line of relief pitchers held the Dodgers scoreless until the sixth inning. L.A. loaded the bases in the first inning and stranded two runners in the fourth.
Will Smith’s ground-rule double to lead off the sixth inning wound up producing a run on Chris Taylor’s sacrifice fly three batters later.
But in the bottom half of the inning, Taylor couldn’t corral a throw at second base, resulting in the ball popping out of his glove and the Marlins having the go-ahead runners on base. Tyler Anderson then issued a walk to load the bases and followed that by allowing a two-run double to Joey Wendle.
Evan Phillips recorded the final two outs of the sixth to keep the Dodgers deficit at a run, which paid off when Mookie Betts hit a two-run homer in the seventh.
When Anderson faced the Marlins last week, he allowed just one over seven innings but was unhappy with command of his pitches. Anderson still had some of the same trouble at loanDepot park, though had a stretch of 13 consecutive batters retired.
Despite not having pitched in high leverage for much of this season, Phil Bickford was entrusted with a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. He allowed a leadoff single, walked the next batter and issued another free pass to load the bases with one out.
Miguel Rojas’ RBI single tied the game, and Bickford wound up being removed with two outs and the bases still loaded. Alex Vesia allowed a go-ahead infield single to Wendle on a tapper hit in front of the mound. There appeared to be some miscommunication between Vesia and Smith, with the the pitcher ultimately attempting to make the play.
Craig Kimbrel retired the side in order in the eighth inning — aided by Cody Bellinger making a leaping catch in deep center field.
That kept pressure on the Marlins, and their bullpen couldn’t protect the lead. Betts tied the game with his second home run and Justin Turner hit a go-ahead RBI single.
Betts has 23 career multi-home run games, of which 20 have come from the leadoff spot in the lineup. That broke a tie with Alfonso Soriano for most multi-homer games from the leadoff spot in MLB history.
David Price was unable to convert the save as he surrendered a game-tying home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth. The Dodgers didn’t do him any favors after that by committing back-to-back errors to give them three on the night, but Price sent the game into extra innings.
The back-and-forth affair carried into the 10th, with Betts again involved in the Dodgers taking a lead thanks to his RBI double. Trea Turner drove a run in with a base hit, and Freeman hit an RBI double. Max Muncy capped off the big inning with a two-run double.
The Dodgers improved to 3-6 in extra innings this season.
Dodgers historic road record
With the victory, the Dodgers have a .667 winning percentage on the road this season. That trails only the 2020 Dodgers (.733) and 1952 Brooklyn (.680) for best road winning percentage in franchise history.
During the live-ball era (since 1920), there have only been four teams to post a winning percentage of .700 or higher on the road: 2020 Dodgers; 1939 New York Yankees, .730; 2001 Seattle Mariners, .728; and 2018 Houston Astros, .704.
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