Thursday night’s game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves ultimately went the Braves’ way, as they were led by a historic home run hit by Ronald Acuna Jr.
But the Dodgers, who own baseball’s second-best record, didn’t go down without a fight.
In fact, Mookie Betts had himself an impressive game as well.
Betts hit two home runs.
One was a three-run shot in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the Dodgers down 7-3.
The second was a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh to make it an 8-6 game.
That home run put him in elite company, tying him for second-most all time in multi-homer games out of the leadoff spot in a single season, according to Sarah Langs.
most multi-home run games out of leadoff spot in a season:
2022 Kyle Schwarber: 7
2023 Mookie Betts: 6
2019 Joc Pederson: 6
2018 Francisco Lindor: 6 https://t.co/NgJId0eALf— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 1, 2023
The record for the most multi-homer games out of the leadoff spot in a single season belongs to Kyle Schwarber, who had seven such games out of the leadoff spot last season.
Betts tied two elite sluggers with his two home runs.
Joc Pederson had six multi-homer games out of the top spot in the lineup back in 2019, the year before Betts joined him on the Dodgers.
Francisco Lindor also had six such games out of the leadoff spot in 2018 when he was still with the then-Cleveland Indians.
Betts’ home runs helped keep the Dodgers in the game as they kept the pressure on the Braves.
The team couldn’t pull away with the win, but it was still a historic night for Betts, even if his accomplishment got lost in the wake of what Acuna was able to do.
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