Betts falls triple shy of cycle, leads Dodgers past Phillies

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mookie Betts stumbled rounding second base - a rare misstep for one of baseball’s most all-around All-Stars — and braced his fall with his left hand. Betts popped up clutching his left arm as he bounced back to second.

His stinger temporarily gave the Dodgers quite a scare. His right arm was at full strength and with one throw, he helped keep Los Angeles’ wining streak alive.

Betts homered, doubled and singled, knocked in three runs, threw out the potential go-ahead run at the plate and sparked the Los Angeles Dodgers to their seventh straight win, 7-4 over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night.

“That’s why he’s one of the best players in baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said. “What he did in the box, what he did in right field, he’s just playing elite baseball right now. We need every bit of it.”

Betts, the five-time All-Star and 2018 AL MVP, about did it all with his arm and at the plate to help the Dodgers rally from a 4-1 hole. He also drew a walk.

Betts has reached base in 20 of 21 games, batting .333 (29 for 87) with seven doubles, seven homers, 18 RBIs, 22 runs and a 1.041 OPS in that stretch.

“Once I kind of changed my mind just to enjoy the process in working each and every day, let the game be the game, it’s kind of come out being pretty good,” Betts said. Gavin Lux lined the go-ahead single to right over a drawn-in infield in the eighth inning for a 5-4 lead. Cody Bellinger scored on Searanthony Dominguez’s wild pitch to make it 6-4.

José Alvarado (0-1) allowed two hits to open the eighth and took the loss. Daniel Hudson (2-3) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless inning of relief and earned the win. Craig Kimbrel, the last of eight Dodgers pitchers, worked a scoreless ninth for his ninth save.

Austin Barnes hit his fourth homer of the year in the ninth for a 7-4 lead.