Mookie Betts delivers as Dodgers sweep Nationals

LOS ANGELES — Once again, a Hollywood moment was created at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium.

This time, it belonged to Mookie Betts.

For seven innings Sunday night, the Dodgers looked like a team searching for the version of itself that had carried it through much of the season. 

Then Betts stepped to the plate.

With two outs in the eighth inning and the Dodgers trailing 5-4, Alex Call singled to center. Tommy Edman followed with a walk, bringing Betts to the plate with two runners aboard.

On the second pitch he saw, a 90-mph fastball disappeared into the left-field pavilion.

Betts' 18th home run of the season flipped the game, giving the Dodgers a 7-5 lead and providing the decisive blow in a comeback victory that completed a three-game sweep of the Nationals.

Mookie Betts flips the score. That was the story of the night.

“A big moment, glad I came through. It's fun,” Betts said.

The Dodgers held on from there, with Edgardo Henriquez closing out the ninth inning for his second save of the season. The 7-5 victory gave the Dodgers its fourth consecutive win and improved its record to 86-57.

For a team that had endured stretches recently where things did not quite look like themselves, the Dodgers suddenly look like themselves again.

They are now just 1½ games behind the Brewers for the best record in the National League and maintain a one-game lead over the Braves for the No. 2 seed.

And perhaps most importantly, they keep finding ways to win.

Over the past two nights, the Dodgers have gotten late go-ahead three-run homers from two different players. Edman delivered Saturday. Betts followed Sunday.

“Every night it's someone different. I thought we were gonna break through; I really did,” Dave Roberts said.

It was the kind of night the Dodgers have become accustomed to producing, even if getting there was anything but routine.

A rough inning changes everything

The Dodgers opened the scoring in the third inning when Max Muncy came around to score on a grounder from Betts, with Edman advancing to second.

But Washington answered.

CJ Abrams led off the fourth inning by launching a home run to center, tying the game at 1-1. It was Abrams' 30th homer of the season and continued an unwelcome trend for Justin Wrobleski.

Wrobleski was making his first start since Aug. 15 and entered having allowed a home run in each of his previous four starts.

The night started promisingly. He struck out six batters through the first three innings.

Then everything unraveled.

The Nationals scored four runs in the fourth, and after Jacob Young's RBI hit, Roberts had seen enough. He went to the bullpen without Wrobleski recording an out in the inning.

Wrobleski's final line: three innings, eight hits, four earned runs, one walk and six strikeouts on 73 pitches, 50 for strikes.

Through June 30, Wrobleski had a 2.71 ERA. Since then, that number has climbed to 6.00.

Still, he wasn't interested in looking too far ahead after the game.

“It's frustrating to give up the four runs there. It's disappointing; it's all the things, but there is some encouraging stuff in there. We got the win, so that's all that really matters,” Wrobleski said.

The Dodgers would need every bit of that bullpen effort.

Miller returns

The game also marked the major-league return of Bobby Miller, who made his season debut after a long road back.

Miller entered in the sixth inning and immediately faced trouble, loading the bases. But instead of allowing the inning to spiral, he limited the damage.

Dylan Crews was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing home Washington's only run of the inning.

Miller escaped with just one run allowed.

“To get out of there with one run, with how my stuff was looking out there, I'd say that's a good day,” Miller said.

He finished with three innings, allowing one run on one hit while walking two and striking out two. More importantly, he earned his first major-league victory since Aug. 29, 2024.

After 16 months away, Miller admitted there were moments when he doubted whether this day would come.

Now it has.

“I'm grateful that I got my shot,” Miller said.

The Dodgers keep answering

The Dodgers slowly chipped away. Edman delivered another big hit in the fifth, lining an RBI double that scored Muncy and cut into the lead.

Will Smith followed with an RBI single to center, scoring Edman. Then Teoscar Hernández tied the game at 4-4 with an infield single.

But the Nationals' answered again, taking a 5-4 lead and putting the Dodgers in a position where one swing could change everything.

The Dodgers had a chance in the seventh when Smith led off with a walk. But Freddie Freeman, Hernández and Kyle Tucker followed with three consecutive strikeouts.

The opportunity was gone. Or so it seemed. Then came the eighth.

Call singled. Edman walked. And Betts did what stars are supposed to do.

He took the fastball and sent it soaring into the pavilion.

Three runs. One swing. A 7-5 lead.

And another Hollywood ending.

The Dodgers completed the sweep, their second consecutive night featuring a late three-run homer to turn a close game into a victory.

At 86-57, the Dodgers moved in the right direction at exactly the right time.

The Dodgers will now welcome the Cincinnati Reds to Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium for a three-game series beginning Monday, the final series of their nine-game homestand.

And, according to Roberts, Shohei Ohtani is expected to be back in the lineup.

“My expectation is that he'll be in the lineup tomorrow,” Roberts said.

He'll be batting leadoff. But Sunday night belonged to Betts.

When the Dodgers needed a Hollywood moment, their star delivered one.