Nothing comes easy for a slumping hitter. Not even if the hitter’s name is Mookie Betts.
In the first two games of the series, Betts went 0-for-6, stretching his postseason slump to 0-for-22 and just 3-for-44 overall. He flipped a switch in Game 3 and has gone 4-for-9 with two home runs in the last two games combined.
In Game 2, Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar robbed Betts of a home run, and nearly did it again in Game 3, causing Betts to start toward the dugout before realizing the ball cleared the wall for a homer. In Game 4, Betts hit a no-doubt home run to left-center off Dylan Cease, giving the Dodgers an early lead.
“The first one, that was in the midst of the 0-for-whatever, so that was really deflating,” Bettstold the MLB on Fox postgame crew. “And then (Tuesday) I got to see one fall. I felt kind of like Steph Curry a little bit. I just needed to see one go in and then I knew I could do it.”
Betts finally broke through in Game 3, hitting a home run off Padres right-hander Michael King. He followed it up with a single in the third inning, setting the stage for Teoscar Hernández’s grand slam. In Game 4, with Freddie Freeman sidelined, Betts stepped up again, hitting a home run and an RBI single in his first two at-bats.
The results reflect all the hard work and preparation Betts has put in to help the Dodgers win.
“The whole thing comes from, I just want to do my part helping the team. I don’t want to do more,” Betts said to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. “I understand where we are. I know I’m a big part of it. I get it.
“I’m not trying to do Shohei’s job or anybody else’s job. I just want to do Mookie’s job. I wasn’t doing it. That’s where the frustration was coming from. I just wasn’t helping us.”
There is no off switch for Betts. When something isn’t right, he is going to put in extra work until he feels it click. That’s what he did on Monday when he took 300-400 swings.
“I don’t care about overdoing it,” he said in the postgame interview room. “I’d rather overdo it than not give effort.”
“Pretty much as soon as I get to the park I’m in the cage and I don’t leave until I go back on the field,” Betts added. “And I come back inside and I hit some more.”
Betts will hopefully continue his hot streak on Friday in Game 5.
