{"id":468867,"date":"2026-09-19T08:10:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T08:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/468867\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T08:10:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T08:10:18","slug":"mookie-betts-homers-twice-tyler-glasnow-shines-in-dodgers-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/468867\/","title":{"rendered":"Mookie Betts homers twice, Tyler Glasnow shines in Dodgers’ win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With eight games left in the regular season, the Dodgers<\/a> already have ticked off the most important boxes on their to-do list for the postseason.<\/p>\n

They clinched a playoff berth<\/a> for a record-tying 14th straight season and won the division title<\/a> for the fifth time in a row. And with Friday\u2019s 8-2 victory<\/a> over the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers (94-60) also have an outside shot at their fourth 100-win season in six years.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t have a lot of work to do between now and the playoffs \u2014 the most important task being determining exactly where and when they\u2019ll open the postseason.<\/p>\n

With Friday\u2019s win and the Milwaukee Brewers\u2019 victory in Baltimore, the Dodgers trail the Brewers by two games in the race for the league\u2019s best record and home-field advantage that goes with it. They also lead the Atlanta Braves by four games for the second-best record, which would give them a first-round bye and an extra five days to get their sizable contingent of walking wounded healthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get one of these top-two seeds is important. And our guys understand that,\u201d manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cWinning the division is great, but I still think our best baseball is ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Achieving that, however, will require emptying an injury list that is almost as long as the starting lineup. If the season ended today, the Dodgers would have at least seven players who wouldn\u2019t be ready to play.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers are hopeful left-hander Blake Snell<\/a>, who came out of Wednesday\u2019s game after an inning because of groin tightness, will be healthy enough for one more regular-season start.<\/p>\n

Center fielder Andy Pages<\/a>, who shares the team lead in RBIs with Shohei Ohtani<\/a> despite missing a month because of a fracture in his left hand, is expected to be activated for the series against the San Diego Padres, which begins Tuesday, while backup catcher Dalton Rushing<\/a> is swinging a bat and will hit against a pitching machine this weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Roki Sasaki<\/a> threw 48 pitches in a bullpen session Wednesday and could come off the IL next week, but Edgardo Henriquez<\/a>, second among Dodgers relievers in innings and strikeouts, will miss the rest of the regular season because of a back strain. He could rejoin the team for the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Ohtani, the four-time most valuable player. He\u2019s dealing with injuries to his left knee and right biceps. He has resumed taking batting practice and is eligible to come off the IL on Wednesday. Roberts hopes to get Ohtani 10 to 12 at-bats before the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really waiting to hear when he\u2019s going to get on the field, let alone take live BP,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cHe\u2019s not there yet. But everything I\u2019ve heard, it\u2019s been a really productive last three to four to five days.\u201d<\/p>\n

One player who did return was closer Edwin D\u00edaz. Limited by injuries to 16 appearances in his first season with the Dodgers, he was activated Friday and threw 17 pitches in the ninth, giving up a single and striking out two. <\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers reliever Edwin D\u00edaz reacts after the final out of an 8-2 win over the Giants on Friday.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

For Roberts, the last month has looked like an episode of \u201cThe Pitt,\u201d with medical crises piling up, one atop the other. Yet that\u2019s hardly slowed the Dodgers, who opened their final homestand of the season having won 11 of their last 14 games.<\/p>\n

Now the focus becomes continuing that momentum while getting as close to full strength as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can go hand in hand,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe have a lot of good players that are more than capable of helping us win baseball games, at the same time making sure we try to get our best players to optimum health when the postseason starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers got a big lift Friday from rookie Josue De Paula<\/a>, who didn\u2019t figure in their regular-season plans \u2014 much less their postseason ones \u2014 until a week ago when he was called up to take Ohtani\u2019s place. In his Dodger Stadium debut, De Paula singled and scored on a Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> single in the fifth, then roped a double to the wall in right-center an inning later, scoring Kyle Tucker<\/a> to put the Dodgers ahead to stay.<\/p>\n

Tucker, Max Muncy<\/a>, Mookie Betts<\/a> and Will Smith<\/a> all homered in a five-run eighth inning, turning a nail-biter into a comfortable win. Betts also hit a solo blast in the first.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts celebrates after hitting a solo home run in the first inning Friday.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crossed my mind,\u201d De Paula said with a smile when asked if he\u2019s in the discussion for a playoff roster spot. \u201cBut I try to focus on the now while I\u2019m here and I\u2019m enjoying every moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, he\u2019s in the mix,\u201d Roberts confirmed. \u201cHe\u2019s certainly doing a lot of things well.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the scoring helped Tyler Glasnow<\/a> (5-1) earn his second win since April 23. Glasnow gave up just three hits in six innings, striking out a season-high 10.<\/p>\n

Hern\u00e1ndez, who had two hits, is batting .368 with 17 RBIs in September; Tucker, who also had two hits, is hitting .424 with five home runs and 13 runs scored in his last 10 games; Betts has six hits in his last eight at-bats, lifting his average to a season-high .254.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s helped make up for Freddie Freeman\u2019s struggles. Freeman, who went hitless in four at-bats Friday, striking out twice, has just six hits \u2014 and 13 strikeouts \u2014 in his last 48 at-bats.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have a lot of work to do,\u201d Roberts said with a sigh before the game.<\/p>\n

They have just over a week to get it done.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With eight games left in the regular season, the Dodgers already have ticked off the most important boxes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[9253,426,2424,423,1049,4468,48,52,51,56574,47,50,49,9442,8841,4122,2504,424,422,427,1543],"class_list":["post-468867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-at-bat","tag-dodgers","tag-friday","tag-game","tag-hit","tag-inning","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-left-hand","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-player","tag-playoff","tag-postseason","tag-regular-season","tag-roberts","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-team","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}