Mookie Betts homers at the plate and stars at short – Dodgers Digest

Starting the series against a Blue Jays team that’s coming off a demolishing of the Rockies, the struggling Dodgers seemed to be in some trouble. With perhaps the final duel between 3000-strikeout club members in Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer on tap, things mostly lived up to the hype, and it was Mookie Betts‘ homer that gave the Dodgers the lead for good in a 5-1 victory.

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Thing started off well for Clayton Kershaw, who got a pair of strikeouts in a clean 1st. However, the 2nd started with a “double” on a squibber down the line that Freddie Freeman apparently couldn’t even knock down. After a groundout moved the runner to third, three consecutive singles plated the runner and loaded the bases.

In a true shocker, the Dodgers got a little luck and played a little defense, as Mookie Betts made a diving stab at short for a double play to end the threat.

Mookie gives the Dodgers a rare defensive highlight for a double play to get Kershaw out of a potentially game over situation. pic.twitter.com/ZdNaE60St5

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 9, 2025

Kershaw seemed to settle in a bit with more shocking help from the defense, as he stranded a lead-off single in the 3rd, saw a single in the 4th erased by a double play, and avoided a potential scoring threat in the 5th after a lead-off single thanks to this great play by Alex Freeland.

Now Freeland turns in a gem, going a long way for an over-the-shoulder catch. pic.twitter.com/6MoqbseTk3

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 9, 2025

Kershaw then faced the minimum in the 6th after his first walk of the game thanks to yet another double play, which has to be a record for the team this year.

This was a brutal matchup on paper, but some defense and luck, and Kershaw cruised on paper: 6 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 74 Pitches.

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On the other end was another Hall Of Famer in Max Scherzer, and the offense started well with back-to-back singles from Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts setting the table. However, after Freddie Freeman got ahead 3-0, he eventually struck out, and a Will Smith flyball to deep fly ended up in Davis Schneider‘s glove on a leaping save at the wall.

Get UP, Davis! pic.twitter.com/90I0eTnuYY

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 9, 2025

After Scherzer pitched around Max Muncy for a four-pitch walk, Teoscar Hernandez missed two center-cut fastballs and swung at a ball in the other batting box to end the inning. Brutal at-bat.

Unfortunately, the offense then looked a lot more like they have for the last month. Over the next three innings, they managed just an infield single, and things looked even worse after Andy Pages led off the 5th in the single but was erased on a double play where he didn’t pickup the ball on a steal attempt. Frustrating stuff.

This is the kinda shit that makes fans boo. pic.twitter.com/47xJ6mmDKR

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 9, 2025

But out of nowhere, the Dodgers got a flash of production behind their stars, as Shohei Ohtani ripped a ground-rule double and Mookie Betts is hot all of a sudden, hitting his first homer (12th) in over a month to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

Go ahead, Mookie! pic.twitter.com/LJrhXTN4wc

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 9, 2025

After a scoreless 6th, Scherzer’s night was done, exiting down 2-1.

The offense took advantage of the Jays pen, as Alex Freeland started things with a walk, a Shohei high bouncer deflected off a glove for a single to corner the runners, and a Mookie grounder drove in a run to extend the lead to 3-1 as everybody was safe.

Freddie Freeman followed with a walk to load the bases, after which Will Smith also walked to force a run in.

They were limited to just a Teoscar Hernandez sac fly to make it 5-1 the rest of the way, but it was a comfortable margin.

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For the Dodgers pen, it was Anthony Banda in the 7th, and he got the first two outs before giving up a single. Dave Roberts went to matchups with Ben Casparius, and he got out of the inning. He the continued in the 8th, striking out a pair and giving up just a two-out double on an audacious diving attempt from Justin Dean making his debut.

I get it. https://t.co/RsY75TJtGW pic.twitter.com/WEHdu26p6X

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 9, 2025

Blake Treinen took over in the 9th, giving up a single but thankfully leaving things short on drama.

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Buehler’s first no-run start of the year that didn’t have an ejection involved comes against the Padres. #TrueDodger

— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) August 8, 2025 at 6:02 PM

Tomorrow’s matchup will be an hour earlier for the weekend at 3:10 PM HT/6:10 PM PT/9:10 PM ET. It’ll be Blake Snell looking to build off his great first start back off the IL, and he’ll face off against Chris Bassitt.