In the first two games of this series, Mookie Betts went 0-for-6, extending his postseason slump to 0-for-22 and 3-for-44. His teammate, Kiké Hernández, contends one postseason does not bleed into another. Yet it was sure looking that way until Betts changed the discussion in Games 3 and 4, going 4-for-9 with two homers.
For a slumping hitter, nothing comes easy. Betts experienced almost a comical form of hitting anguish, depositing balls over the left-field wall in three consecutive games, but nearly ending up with only one home run.
In Game 2, Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar robbed Betts. In Game 3, Profar almost repeated the feat. Betts, convinced he had made another out, turned and started running toward the dugout, exasperated. Once he saw the ball actually cleared the left-field wall, he was safe to begin a home-run trot.
In Game 4, Betts was at it again in the first. Only this time, he hit a relative no-doubter to left-center off Padres right-hander Dylan Cease. His homer gave the Dodgers the lead, and eight relievers then combined for a seven-hit shutout.
“The first one, that was in the midst of the 0-for-whatever, so that was really deflating,” Betts told the MLB on Fox postgame crew. “And then (Tuesday) I got to see one fall. I felt kind of like Steph Curry a little bit. I just needed to see one go in and then I knew I could do it.”
