MIAMI — Getting started that early on a Sunday morning in South Florida should only involve mojitos and an omelet station.
But the Dodgers wiped the sleep from their eyes after their early wakeup call for a noon start Sunday (necessitated by a streaming broadcast on Peacock) and went to work. Mookie Betts and Trayce Thompson hit home runs in the first two innings and the Dodgers went on to beat the Miami Marlins 8-1.
If coffee and Red Bull hadn’t done the trick by game time, Betts provided a jolt with a home run to start the game.
It was the seventh time this season he led off a game with a home run and the 36th time in his career, tying him with Shin-Soo Choo for 11th all-time.
“Today I would say probably more than other days, because it’s really kind of a 9 o’clock game for us,” Betts said of the value of leadoff home runs. “I think that kind of woke us up a little bit, that I was able to do that.
“Like I’ve said, I do whatever I can to help us win.”
He’s been doing a lot of it lately.
Betts, Justin Turner and Max Muncy each had three-hit games Sunday — more individually than the Marlins managed collectively (two). Betts went 8 for 15 with two doubles, four home runs in an eight-at bat stretch, seven RBI and five runs scored in the first three games of the four-game series.
“Everything is on the barrel. He’s swinging it so well, absolutely,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think he continues to stay aggressive. Obviously when he’s like this, he stays in the strike zone and it seems like every swing he takes is center-cut. So I think the challenge for me is to recognize that but to resist the urge to run him out there every single day.”
So Betts’ reward? A day off Monday in the series finale.
“He’s just swinging the bat so well, but he’s going to be down tomorrow just to give him a day before the next couple series,” Roberts said. “Four days on the turf isn’t ideal.
“So that’s why it’s my decision to give him a day tomorrow to keep that flame going.”
The home run Sunday was his 31st of the season, two short of Joc Pederson’s franchise record out of the leadoff spot (set in 2019) and one short of matching Betts’ career-high (32 in his American League MVP season in 2018).
“Yeah, it’s been a good couple days or whatever,” Betts said of his hot time in Miami. “I’m just swinging at decent pitches. I know I’ve swung a little more out of the zone than I’d like to. But the pitches I’m getting to hit, I’m just hitting them. … Just stay aggressive, be ready for the mistakes. Sometimes you’re gonna swing out of the zone, but that comes with being aggressive.”
After Betts’ leadoff home run, the Dodgers scored another first-inning run on a Justin Turner RBI single and Thompson lined a drive high off the foul pole down the left-field line to make it a 3-0 getaway in the second inning.
The home run was Thompson’s seventh since being acquired by the Dodgers in June to add punch against left-handed pitching. It was the sixth of those seven to come off a right-handed pitcher.
“I think we’re all surprised by it. I think Trayce is surprised by it,” Roberts said of Thompson flipping his career tendencies. “But Trayce has done a great job. I do think the numbers versus left will correct itself a little bit and hopefully the numbers versus right don’t self-correct either. Regardless, when he’s in there I feel good. He’s earned some opportunities, so I’m trying to get him in there when I can.”
Julio Urias didn’t need any more than that. He allowed just one hit in six innings. But it was a big one — a 416-foot solo home run by Brian Anderson in the fourth inning.
Urias did have to work around some self-created traffic. He walked a season-high four, leading to a season-high 101 pitches to navigate through six innings.
“Julio was fantastic today,” Roberts said. “I thought the fastball command was good, the life to it was good. He wasn’t threatened at all today.”
If Urias was never in danger, Trea Turner kind of was.
The Dodgers shortstop took a 96.3 mph fastball from Marlins right-hander Edward Cabrera off the back of his helmet in the fifth inning. Turner dropped to the dirt but got up in short order, stole second on the next pitch and stayed in the game even after the Dodgers broke it open with three runs in the sixth and two more in the top of the ninth.
“I’m fine,” Turner said after the game. “I’ve been lucky. I’ve gotten hit in the head a few times. Every time it seems to hit me in a decent spot. So I’m not going to ask questions.”
