To say that it was agonizing for Dodgers fans would be a gross understatement. But imagine how agonizing it was for him.

I am, of course, referring to Dodgers superstar and future Hall of Famer Mookie Betts, who entered Sunday’s contest against the NL West last place Colorado Rockies mired in a horrific un-Betts-like 0-for-14 slump; and make no mistake about it, it was very horrific and very un-Betts-like.

Betts’ 0-for-14 drought ended on the third pitch of Sunday’s game, when he launched an 84-MPH slider from Rockies left-hander Austin Gomber into the seats 354 feet down the left field line for his ninth home run of the season, his fourth leadoff home run of the season, and the 52nd leadoff home run of his 11-year MLB career. It was also Mookie’s first home run since May 17.

Although that would be Betts’ only hit – and run – of the game, it would prove to be the game-winner in the Dodgers eventual 4-0 shutout of Colorado to take two of three of the brief three-game series and homestand. He grounded out to short in the second inning, drew a five-pitch walk in the fourth, and popped out to short and first respectively in the sixth and eighth innings.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman immediately followed Betts’ leadoff dinger with one of his own, a 396-foot shot to center that actually hit the glove of Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle, to make it 2-0 Dodgers before the seats were even warm. Like Betts, the extremely popular Dodgers first baseman has also been struggling at the plate of late.

“I feel like we’ve been having this conversation every five days,” Freeman kidded with SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson about his 1-for-1 home run day that also included three walks and two runs scored. “Hopefully, I can start throwing in some more, better streaks in there, but a little bit better the last couple days. So, hopefully, I can continue it into Pittsburgh.”

“It was good, we needed it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said postgame of Betts’ and Freeman’s slump-busting day. “I think Mookie’s been, you know, really relieved to hit a ball out of the ballpark. Freddie obviously’s been kind of in it for a while, so for him to go deep today was really good for him, drove in another run late (on a one-out sacrafice fly to center in the bottom of the eighth inning).”

On the other side of the ball, 25-year-old Dodgers right-hander Gavin Stone was absolutely brilliant in his 10th start of the season, allowing no runs and only four Rockies hits, with two walks and six strikeouts in his 5.0 shutout innings of work enroute to his sixth win of the season.

“Yeah, just usual commanding the fastball, leaned heavily on the slider today, that was a big pitch,” Stone said postgame of his strong outing. “Barnsie (Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes) called a great game, but yeah, just leaning on the fastball pretty heavy today.”

Stay hot, boys!

Play Ball!

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