CHICAGO – Shortstops who hit like that can really make a lot of money.
Making his first career start at his “dream” position, Mookie Betts drove in three runs with a home run and a double as the Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 7-3 Sunday afternoon.
Back-to-back wins on Saturday and Sunday were the Dodgers’ first consecutive wins since a three-game winning streak against the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks April 3-6. That two-game surge moved the Dodgers over .500 (12-11) for the first time in over a week.
The Dodgers have done enough things wrong over the first month of the season to muddle along within a game of .500 for most of that time.
But there’s one thing they have really done right – hit home runs.
Betts, Max Muncy and J.D. Martinez each cleared the ivy at Wrigley Field Sunday.
Betts turned the Dodgers’ power on with a two-run home run in the third inning. That tied the game after the Cubs had scored two unearned runs in the first inning against Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw, set up when Muncy couldn’t handle Nico Hoerner’s grounder to his backhand.
Kershaw gave up a solo home run to Yan Gomes in the fifth inning to put the Cubs back on top. But Muncy and Martinez gave the Dodgers the lead for good when they hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning.
The Dodgers lead the National League with 43 home runs in their first 23 games. Only the Tampa Bay Rays (48) have hit more.
Muncy has been responsible for 11 of those home runs, giving him the major-league lead over Pete Alonso (10) for now. Eight of Muncy’s home runs have come in the past 11 games since he returned to a “step-back” move as a trigger to his swing. He is 11 for 34 since then with 12 RBI.
Given a lead, Kershaw made it hold up. But he had some help from Wrigley Field’s geometry.
The walls in right and left field curve in sharply at one point, creating a “well” where the wall moves five feet closer to home plate. Kershaw got fly balls to the deep part of the “well” – by Eric Hosmer in the fourth inning and Patrick Wisdom in the sixth. Each time David Peralta was standing on the warning track when they came down, harmless fly outs that would have landed in the bleachers had they been hit 10 feet to the right.
Kershaw allowed just one earned run over his six innings and wound up with his 201st career win.
But that only came after Betts added a two-run double in the ninth inning and Brusdar Graterol escaped a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the ninth — with Betts starting a game-ending double play from shortstop.
