The Los Angeles Dodgers extended their season-best winning streak to five games with a 13-1 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night, led by another big offensive performance from Mookie Betts.
The six-time All-Star collected three hits and drove in three RBI for a second consecutive game, and has been a major factor in the team’s improved play of late.
Since falling below .500 on April 19, the Dodgers have won nine of their last 12 games and now hold a 1.5-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West entering play Wednesday.
“A lot,” Betts answered when asked what the winning streak has meant to the Dodgers. “It’s super important for us to keep playing. Tomorrow is a new day, and you’re going to have your ups and your downs, but you can’t let those control you. You’ve got to stay in the moment and play game by game.”
The Dodgers’ latest offensive outburst against the Phillies marked the second time in as many days they scored 13 runs. L.A. has struggled against left-handed starters this season, but was able to solve Matt Strahm as he allowed four runs on six hits in 3.1 innings pitched.
“We didn’t prepare any different, we did everything the same,” Betts said of the Dodgers’ success against Strahm. “Sometimes it’s just like that. You go through your ups and downs against lefties, against righties, against whoever.
“We just take it game by game, and go with the task at hand. Lefty, righty, it doesn’t matter. We prepare and go play.”
Freeman: Dodgers starting to find rhythm
The Dodgers’ five-game winning streak comes at a time in which the team has welcomed back key players from the injured list and paternity leave. Freddie Freeman, who previously described L.A. as being inconsistent, believes the club is starting to play to its potential.
“I guess we’ll take a win any way we can get it,” Freeman recently said. “And the way we’ve been playing, kind of just treading water the first few weeks, it’s nice to put it all together at the end of April and go into May.
“It’s nice to play some good baseball in front of our home fans too, the few thousand people want to see us win, so it was nice to do that for three straight days.”
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