Betts’ hard work paying off at plate
There was a lull in early April, when he went two games without a hit and seven games without a run batted in, but other than that, Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts has been on an opening-month rampage, one that continued with a career-high-tying five hits in Tuesday night’s 6-2 victory over the Washington Nationals.
A sold-out crowd of 52,718 in Dodger Stadium saw Betts hit two doubles, three singles, score twice and drive in two runs to provide a jolt to a team that had lost four of five games. Betts improved his average to .388 with a 1.190 on-baseplus-slugging percentage, six homers, five doubles, 18 RBIs and 22 runs in the Dodgers’ first 20 games.
“He’s pretty locked in right now — it’s fun to watch,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “He’s so locked in to what he’s trying to do with his defense that I feel like that’s carrying over to his offense. He’s fully in tune with what his body’s doing right now, and I feel that’s allowing him to get the most out of what he’s trying to do on both sides of the ball.”
Betts is a six-time Gold Glove Award-winning right fielder who was moved to second base over the winter and then to shortstop — a position he hadn’t played regularly since high school — in early March.
The 5-foot-9, 180-pounder is determined to mold himself into a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop, so he goes through grueling pregame workouts every day, taking dozens of ground balls — to his left, to his right, directly at him with pace, slow rollers he has to charge — throwing to first base and working on double-play feeds and pivots.
But his hard labor each afternoon hasn’t slowed his production on the swing shift.
“I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as he works before a game,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I don’t know how he does it. You would think that he expends too much energy, but he’s just so mentally tough that he can handle it. He’s not a very physical guy, but it certainly hasn’t affected performance.”
Does Betts worry that, over the course of a six-month, 162-game season, he might work so hard before games that his tank is not full for the games?
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s a balance, but I can’t not put in the work,” Betts said. “That’s me. I’m always going to put in work. I’ll overwork before I take a day off. I just gotta figure it out.”
Third-base coach Dino Ebel, who has overseen Betts’ transition to shortstop, said the team’s strength-and-conditioning coaches monitor Betts every day to make sure he’s not overexerting himself. They may have to temper Betts’ pregame workouts at some point; they have not reached that point yet.
“I swear, I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire career, how much work he puts in and how much he’s getting out of it,” Ebel said before Wednesday’s game. “This guy to me is the Michael Jordan, the Kobe Bryant of baseball, because he’s obsessed with getting this done. He wants to not just prove everybody wrong but to himself that he can play that position. And what he’s doing right now is remarkable because he isn’t taking it into the batter’s box, and he’s not tired. And he’s out here every day.”
— Mike DiGiovanna
Angels fall in 13 innings
The Tampa Bay Rays tied the game with a two-out rally against Angels closer Carlos Estévez, and scored twice in the 13th inning to win 7-6 on Tuesday.
Each team scored once in the 10th and 11th innings and the Angels moved ahead in the top of the 13th after Luis Rengifo stole third and scored on Zach Neto’s single.
Richie Palacios got the Rays even at 6-6 with a two-out RBI double in the bottom half against Carson Fulmer (0-1). Amed Rosario then had a bases-loaded infield single down the third-base line that scored Palacios to win it.
The Angels took a 3-0 lead in the fourth when Mickey Moniak hit a two-run homer and Logan O’Hoppe followed with a solo drive off Aaron Civale.
Angels starter José Soriano gave up one run and one hit over five innings in his second major league start. The 25-year-old righthander struck out six and walked five. His four-seam fastball averaged 100 mph through four innings and ended up at 99.4.