Just nine pitches into Tuesday’s game between the Dodgers and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park, 28-year-old Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner hit his third home run of the season, a two run shot to center field, to give the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead before the seats were even warm.

That’s the good news.

The not-so-good news is that 27-year-old Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler, as he seemingly has been doing with uncomfortable regularity lately, struggled in the bottom half of the first frame, allowing three runs on five hits to make it 3-2 Nationals.

But as he has also been doing with comfortable regularity lately, Buehler settled in after his early struggles, and did so again on Tuesday night.

After his rocky start, the Lexington, KY native and Dodgers first round draft pick in 2015 out of Vanderbilt University allowed no additional runs and only one additional hit in his strong 6.0 innings of work.

“I think that early on, I thought they got on him early, they got on the heater (fastball) when he was trying to settle into the game,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after his team’s 9-4 pounding of the NL East last-place Nationals. “And then after that first inning, I thought he settled in nicely, and as the game went on, I thought the pitch mix was better, he was more efficient.

“It wasn’t looking great early, but for him to go out there and still get through six innings, I know he’s not feeling his best, but still, we needed those six innings,” Roberts added.

And then there’s that Mookie Betts fellow. All the 29-year-old Nashville, TN native did was go 3-for-4 on the night, with two home runs, a single, and four RBIs, to give him a team-best 12 home runs and a team second-best 30 RBI on the season behind only Trea Turner’s 34.

Asked if this was the best he has seen Betts play since being acquired from the Boston Red Sox on February 10, 2020 (along with 36-year-old left-hander David Price and cash in exchange for 26-year-old catcher Alex Verdugo, 26-year-old catching prospect Connor Wong, and 23-year-old middle infield prospect Jeter Downs), Roberts didn’t mince his words.

“Yeah, it is. I think that even in 20, there were snippets where he was playing good baseball, but over the last 30 days, it’s as good as anybody on the planet right now,” Roberts answered. “Yeah, it’s as good as I’ve seen him – scoring runs at a crazy clip, is on base, is slugging at a ridiculous clip, too.”

“And he’s playing Gold Glove defense, so it’s like, you know, he’s making the game look a lot easier than it is,” Roberts added. “He’s getting on base, he’s slugging, he’s playing MVP-type baseball, he really is. So that’s where it’s starting. And then after that, guys are just kind of following suit. And to get CT (Chris Taylor) on track the last couple nights was big. But it’s all about Mookie right now. He’s just carrying us right now, playing excellent baseball.”

Excellent baseball indeed. In addition to his team-leading 12 home runs and MLB-leading 44 runs scored, Betts is now slashing .292/.385/.578/.963.

Needless to say, it’s pretty clear who won that February 10, 2020 trade with the current AL East fourth-place Boston Red Sox.

Play Ball!

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