SAN DIEGO — Video boards in major-league stadiums these days have grown nearly big enough to be seen from space. That makes it really difficult to ignore the information contained on them.
Mookie Betts and Max Muncy had reason to try. They came into Friday’s game with .178 and .128 batting averages, respectively, unsightly blemishes as the Dodgers’ lineup was displayed on the scoreboard at Petco Park.
But Betts hit his first two home runs of the season and Muncy drove in three runs as the Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 6-1, Friday night in the opener of a three-game series. The two combined to reach base eight times, score four of the Dodgers’ runs and drive in five.
“I like when the scoreboards do the OPS instead of batting averages. That looks much nicer,” Muncy said. “It doesn’t hurt as bad because I still get on base. Yeah, when you see the OPS it’s a little bit nicer.”
As far as Betts is concerned, the numbers weren’t lying. He was honest about his dissatisfaction with his slow start and the seemingly fruitless search for an adjustment that would turn it around.
“It’s just me,” he said, dismissing questions about the hip problem that limited him in 2021. “I can’t blame it on the hip, I can’t blame it on anything else. It’s all me. You have to take ownership for sucking. It is what it is though. I’m working. My teammates have been amazing in keeping us winning and I just want to do my part to help us win.”
The first two weeks of the season have been “a grind,” Betts said, as he searched for answers.
“Just everything, man,” he said when asked if he had focused his work on anything in particular. “It’s kind of tough to focus on one thing when a lot of things are kind of going wrong.
“You have to be mentally tough and, you know, I wasn’t. I was not mentally tough and my teammates stayed on me. … You just kinda let it get to you and then it just compounds. I take full ownership of letting it compound.”
Betts took full ownership of a 2-and-1 cutter from Padres starter Nick Martinez leading off the fifth inning, sending it 420 feet into the upper deck in left field. He had dragged his .178 average down I-5 to San Diego and had just one hit in his past 18 at-bats before the fifth inning. Statcast hadn’t even credited him with hitting a ball on the barrel of his bat before his first home run of the season.
“He’s been losing sleep,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Betts’ struggles. “When you’re a guy like that, you have high standards and expectations and you’re not meeting them, you get frustrated.”
Muncy was off to his own slow start with just one hit in his previous 15 at-bats before Friday. He drew two of the Dodgers’ five walks in the first four innings then turned on a 1-and-1 fastball from Martinez in the fifth, launching it high toward the right field seats – a 41-degree launch angle seems extreme. The towering fly ball just cleared the wall (and Wil Myers’ glove).
“I actually feel I’ve been having a lot of really good at-bats. Just a lot of bad luck, unfortunately,” Muncy said. “As long as you can stay strong mentally and not get completely outside yourself and start changing everything then hopefully you will eventually come out of it. Hopefully, this is a start.”
Betts and Muncy combined for four of the seven walks the Dodgers drew in the game. But it wasn’t until the seventh inning that they finally turned one of those into a run.
Betts drew his second walk of the game to start the inning. Singles by Freddie Freeman and Trea Turner loaded the bases with no outs.
With the infield playing in, Muncy slapped a single through the middle to drive in two runs. A sacrifice fly by Justin Turner made it a three-run inning – the 10th time in the first 13 games this season the Dodgers have scored three or more runs in an inning.
Betts went deep again leading off the ninth inning against Padres reliever Craig Stammen, a more modest 370-foot drive this time. It was the 20th multi-homer game of Betts’ career.
“We know what kind of player he is – he’s Mookie Betts,” Dodgers starter Julio Urias said through an interpreter. “We expect that every day. We know he’s kind of been going through it but we expect him to do those things and it’s nice when he does it.”
Urias did his part, allowing just one run in five innings – and the Padres barely got that.
A walk of Jurickson Profar and a single by Eric Hosmer put runners on the corners with one out. Urias got Myers to hit a ground ball to Trea Turner but the shortstop’s underhand feed to Gavin Lux at second base was very high. Lux had to reach high to pull it in and get the force at second. By the time he turned and threw to first base, Myers was able to beat the throw, allowing Profar to score from third.
Urias became very stingy after that. He struck out Trent Grisham to end that inning with two runners on. That started a stretch in which Urias retired 10 of the last 12 batters he faced, allowing only a single by Manny Machado in the third and a leadoff walk to Ha-Seong Kim in the fifth and striking out five of his season-high seven.
CRUSHED BY MOOKIE. ???? #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/oqL45X7Ndh
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 23, 2022
Max for the lead! pic.twitter.com/MuHTZKc24V
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 23, 2022
Clutch up, @maxmuncy9! #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/wYjOGBUCUR
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 23, 2022
Mookie getting right in SD. Love to see it. pic.twitter.com/xjOUEZt0XT
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 23, 2022
“As long as you’re focused on the process, eventually good things will start happening.” Max Muncy (2-3, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB) talks post-game with @kirsten_watson. pic.twitter.com/4bRTJ98vlO
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 23, 2022
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
