Dodgers 11, Angels 4: Mookie Betts hits 2 homers & drives in 4, secures season series win over Angels

Chad Moriyama 07/07/2023 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

The Freeway Series saw the Dodgers bust out their dongs on the Angels in an 11-4 win to secure their third win in a row and also the season series win no matter what happens tomorrow.

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The Angels started Griffin Canning, and while he’s been average-ish for them this year, he basically did Home Run Derby prep for the Dodgers today.

Freddie Freeman started the dinger show in the 1st with his 16th of the year for a 1-0 lead…

…and the only reason it wasn’t doubled later in the inning was a Jo Adell robbery of the hilariously unlucky Max Muncy.

J.D. Martinez followed that up with a solo shot of his own in the 2nd, and his 21st made it 2-0.

For the third inning in a row, the Dodgers went yard when Mookie Betts turned on his 24th of the year for another solo shot in the 3rd to make it 3-0.

The Dodgers then rallied with two outs, a regular thing at this point, as a Will Smith single was followed by a Muncy walk, and then J.D. doubled into the oppo gap to push the lead to 4-0 and knocked Canning out early.

Meanwhile, Tony Gonsolin was absolutely cruising, setting down the first nine batters he faced on just 25 pitches.

It was a bit shocking then that in the 4th he gave up a clean single, then an infield one that Mookie wasn’t able to glove cleanly, and then Mickey Moniak ambushed a hanging curve on the first pitch for a three-run homer that cut the Dodgers lead to 4-3 all of a sudden.

The Dodgers offense did extend the lead after that, though. While everybody struck out in the 4th, in the 5th it was Mookie hitting a homer again for his 25th of the year to make it 5-3.

It was Mookie yet again in the 6th after yet another two-out Dodger rally, as James Outman singled and Miguel Rojas walked, and both were cashed in by the double Betts ripped down the line in left to make it 7-3.

Back to Gonsolin, after the flash rally in the 3rd, he did face the minimum in the 4th and 5th, seeing a single in the latter inning erased by a double play. He then got into trouble with a walk and single in the 6th but worked out of that.

Unfortunately, Mike Moustakas led the 7th off with a homer to make it 7-4, and while he allowed just a single sandwiched between two outs, Gonsolin was removed for matchup reasons.

6.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 77 Pitches

Alex Vesia relieved him and gave Shohei Ohtani the good morning, good afternoon, good night treatment to keep the lead the same.

Brusdar Graterol then got the 8th, allowing just a single in his scoreless frame.

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Meanwhile, the Dodgers didn’t stop scoring for once. They managed just a walk in the 8th, but exploded in the 9th, as a Miguel Vargas walk was cashed in by a Rojas double.

After intentionally walking the red-hot Mookie, Freeman then hit a double play ball in a comebacker, but Hunter Renfroe basically whiffed on it at first to score Rojas. Then on the first pitch after that, Dills ripped his 13th homer to left to make it 11-4.

That made things easy for Ryan Brasier in the 9th, who got dealt a rough hand to start when he got a strikeout on three pitches but it got away from Will for a baserunner. After a walk, he did induce a double play, and then got a routine fly out to ensure I wouldn’t have to change my recap.

A true hero!

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I apologize for this, but it was just too much.

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NL WESTRECORD
Diamondbacks51-38
Dodgers50-38 (0.5 GB)
Giants47-41 (3.5 GB)

*Either still playing or will play later.

In tomorrow’s season series finale against the Angels, and first half finale, it’ll be Michael Grove as the bulk boi against Reid Detmers at 3:10 PM HT/6:10 PM PT/9:10 PM ET.

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