Sunday, August 17, 2025

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2025

Mookie Betts came through with a solo home run in the eighth to enable the Los Angeles Dodgers to sweep the San  Diego Padres.

The Dodgers came into the three-game series with the Padres with a four-game losing streak. Their lead in the National League Western Division is two games over the Padres.

For the first time in a month and a half, the Dodgers played consecutive complete games. Against the Padres, the Dodgers proved that they are the best in the National League Western Division.

The Dodgers inched out the Padres 5-to-4.

Starting the game, Tyler Glasnow was dominant, but then, he battled. He struck out eight while allowing six hits, including a solo home run, and issuing a walk. He battled through five innings even though he didn’t have his best stuff.

Every time the Padres had their lead-off hitter reach, they scored, but it was not enough.

Anthony Banda had a bad outing, the first time in a month, when he allowed two doubles while retiring a hitter.

Ben Casparius came into the sixth and retired two hitters to kill the Padres’ rally.

For the first time since coming off the IL, Blake Treinen looked like his dominant self. He pitched a scoreless seventh inning.

Though in this series, Alexis Diaz had pitched well, he struggled in the eighth. Alex Vesia came in and retired the last five batters of the game to earn the save. Before this series, Vesia was struggling.

Alex Freeland, a rookie, played excellent defense at second base on Sunday, preventing the Padres from having prolonged rallies. Before the series, the Dodgers have Hyeseong Kim, Kiké Hernández, Tommy Edman, and Max Muncy on the IL, and they didn’t have that many available infielders. When they put Muncy on the IL, they promoted Buddy Kennedy, who made a fantastic play at third base on Sunday.

Yu Darvish struggled in the first, and if the Dodgers didn’t take advantage of the scoring opportunity, they probably wouldn’t have accomplished the sweep. To open the first, Shohei Ohtani singled, and Betts walked. Freddie Freeman blasted his fifteenth home run, a three-run shot. A batter later, Andy Pages blasted his twentieth home run.

The 2025 season has been the hardest offensive season for Mookie Betts. This frustrated Betts, though he has played a marvelous shortstop. At the beginning of August, after losing his stepfather, Betts decided to ignore his personal offensive statistics and concentrate on helping the Dodgers win. Since then, Betts has contributed to the offense more than before. His thirteenth homer of the season arguably was the most important hit that the Dodgers had during the 2025 season.