Leave the math to everyone else. The Los Angeles Dodgers know how to win baseball games.
Mookie Betts on Monday night hit a three-run homer, Cody Bellinger added a two-run double and the Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-0 behind Tyler Anderson, becoming the first major league team to clinch a playoff spot this season — for real, this time.
The Dodgers thought they had secured a playoff berth on Sunday after beating the San Diego Padres, celebrating with a post-game toast and distributing caps with the post-season logo on them. After further review, the math did not quite add up, and the Dodgers were just short.
Photo: AFP
So for the second straight day, the Dodgers celebrated a trip to the post-season.
“I don’t know if that’s ever been done,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said with a grin. “But it feels good.”
The Dodgers could make it three celebrations in three days, when a win yesterday would allow them to clinch the National League West title, which they have won every season from 2013 to 2020. The Dodgers won their 97th game of the season on Monday and are 54 games over .500.
Anderson (15-3) and Diamondbacks rookie Ryne Nelson engaged in an impressive pitching duel for the first six innings.
The Dodgers broke through against the D-backs’ bullpen in the seventh, loading the bases with no outs.
Trayce Thompson snapped the scoreless tie with a sacrifice fly off Kevin Ginkel and then Bellinger pushed the Dodgers ahead 3-0 with a double into the right-center gap.
It was a good moment for Bellinger, who was the 2019 National League Most Valuable Player, but has not come close to reaching that level of production since. He came into the game with a .200 batting average, 17 homers and 55 RBIs.
“Belly will be Belly. He’ll be fine,” Betts said. “He always finds ways. He competes. He plays a Gold Glove center field, which is huge. For some odd reason, he comes through in those clutch situations. We always know he’ll be there, be a fierce competitor and be ready when the lights turn on.”
Betts crushed a three-run shot to left in the ninth, giving the Dodgers a six-run cushion. It was his 34th homer of the season, a career high.
Anderson went seven innings, giving up five hits, walking two and striking out two.
Nelson threw six shutout innings in his second major league start, extending his scoreless streak to 13 innings since he was called up to the big leagues last week.
In Cleveland, Los Angeles Angels’ star Mike Trout homered in his seventh consecutive game, one shy of the major league record, but the American League Central-leading Cleveland Guardians beat Los Angeles 5-4.
The game featured a strange sequence in the seventh, when Cleveland manager Terry Francona and Angels interim manager Phil Nevin were both ejected without a pitch being thrown in-between the tossings.
In other Monday games, it was:
‧ Blue Jays 3, Rays 2
‧ Rangers 3, Marlins 2 (game1)
‧ Marlins 10, Rangers 6 (game 2)
‧ Cubs 5, Mets 2
‧ Giants 3, Braves 2
‧ Pirates 6, Reds 3
‧ Astros 7, Tigers 0
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but