Mookie Betts had his third career five-hit game, Enrique Hernandez hit his first home run of the season and the Los Angeles Dodgers picked up a 6-2 victory over the visiting Washington Nationals on Tuesday.
Betts drove in two runs, Austin Barnes added his first RBI and right-hander Kyle Hurt went two scoreless innings in his first career start as the Dodgers’ opener. Los Angeles evened the series after entering with four losses in five games.
It was Betts’ second five-hit game for the Dodgers; he also did it Aug. 23 of last season against the Cleveland Guardians.
Jesse Winker hit a two-run home run for the Nationals, while left-hander Patrick Corbin (0-3) gave up five runs over 6 1/3 innings. He has allowed at least four runs in each of his first four starts.
Winker had two hits as the Nationals dropped to 4-4 on a nine-game California road trip that also had stops at San Francisco and Oakland.
The Dodgers tried to make life miserable on Corbin early, loading the bases after their first three batters of the game as Betts and Shohei Ohtani singles, while Freddie Freeman walked.
But the only first-inning run the Dodgers scored was on a double-play grounder by Teoscar Hernandez.
Los Angeles made it 3-0 in the second inning when Barnes had an RBI single and Betts delivered a run-scoring double. Barnes’ single scored Dodgers’ rookie Andy Pages, who singled to right field on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues. Pages went 1-for-4 in his debut.
Winker pulled the Nationals within a run at 3-2 when he hit a full-count pitch from left-hander Ryan Yarbrough 429 feet to the seats in right-center field. It was Winker’s second of the season.
Enrique Hernandez increased the Dodgers’ lead to 4-2 in the fifth inning with his home run, which was also his first extra-base hit of the season. Los Angeles made it 5-2 in the seventh when Betts led off with a double and scored on Teoscar Hernandez’s single. Betts added an RBI single in the eighth.
Yarbrough (2-0) gave up two runs over five innings and right-hander Daniel Hudson, the last of four Dodgers pitchers, delivered a scoreless ninth inning.
–Field Level Media
