Betts hits majors-leading 5th HR, Dodgers beat Giants 5-4
LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts hit his major league-leading fifth home run, Freddie Freeman had three hits and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 5-4 on Tuesday night for their third straight victory.
Betts lifted a hanging changeup from Giants starter Logan Webb into the left-center field bleachers in the third inning for a game-tying solo home run and the 1,500th hit of his career.
“I had no idea (about the milestone),” Betts said. “When they said it on there, that’s when I found out. Freddie came and congratulated me and I was like, ‘For what?’ He came and told me. I had no idea.”
Betts finished 2 for 5 with two runs scored and a stolen base. He is batting .500 and has reached base in 23 of 38 plate appearances to open the season.
Webb (0-1) surrendered seven hits and five runs in 3 2/3 innings. The NL Cy Young Award runner-up had lasted less than four innings just once in his previous 63 starts dating back to April 2022.
“His stuff looked pretty good, but he was behind in some counts and there were some two-strike hits,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “They were sitting soft late in the count. They made him work. They made him throw a lot of pitches. Obviously not his best outing.”
Ryan Yarbrough (1-0) followed opener Ryan Brasier with 4 1/3 innings of relief to earn the win. After Brasier tossed a scoreless first inning, Yarbrough allowed seven hits and four runs, walked one and struck out one while pitching into the sixth in a bullpen game for the Dodgers.
The teams traded runs early before Betts’ blast tied the score at 2-2. Gavin Lux hit a tiebreaking RBI double the opposite way into left-center in the fourth inning off of Webb, and Kikè Hernandez followed with a two-run single that gave the Dodgers a 5-2 lead and proved to be the decisive blow.
Jorge Soler led off the sixth with his first home run as a Giant and Michael Conforto singled and scored on a fielder’s choice to bring San Francisco within a run, but the back of the Dodgers’ bullpen held on.
Alex Vesia and Michael Grove combined for 2 1/3 scoreless innings and Evan Phillips recorded a four-out save to secure the victory. Phillips got pinch-hitter LaMonte Wade Jr. to ground out to first with the tying run on second base to end the eighth inning and struck out Matt Chapman with the tying run on first to end it in the ninth.
“As the game is progressing, you kind piece together how it might come,” Phillips said. “We take a lot of pride as a bullpen and we were trying to put a little bit more emphasis on winning that game.”
Soler, Conforto and Wilmer Flores each had two hits for the Giants, who have lost 13 of their last 18 games against the Dodgers.