Dodgers notes: Mookie Betts, Kyle Tucker, Roki Sasaki

Two months into the season, Mookie Betts had missed over a month of time due to an oblique issue and was posting by far the worst offensive numbers of his entire career.

While sluggers at the top of the lineup like Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages have mired in a funk over the last two weeks, Mookie Betts has ascended into the same hitter that fans were used to seeing in 2022 and 2023. Betts added his third home run in as many games during the Dodgers’ nine-run sixth inning on Saturday against the San Diego Padres, and over his last 13 games he is slashing .358/.407/.698 with five home runs and nine RBI.

Betts had primarily been the no. 2 hitter in the Dodgers lineup until he was slotted to cleanup on May 26 against the Colorado Rockies and has since remained there. That spot in the Dodgers lineup has been one of the weakest so far, notes Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, and with Betts and Pages headed in opposite trajectories, another mixup could be in store.

Kyle Tucker was an instrumental part of the Dodgers nine-run sixth inning on Saturday, crushing a two-run home run against Randy Vásquez and finishing the game 3-5 with four RBI.

Year 1 as a Dodger has not been kind for the All-Star outfielder, who entered Saturday’s contest with just a .700 OPS on the season, but he proved himself as a viable piece in the lineup and he spoke with Kirsten Watson of SportsNet LA about the three-hit game.

“I didn’t love my swing tonight. The homer, I caught the ball at the right point of contact. The other ones, I got inside the ball a little bit and I got them over to left [field] over the infielder, so it just kind of works out sometimes.”

“I didn’t love my swing tonight. The homer, I caught the ball at the right point of contact. The other ones, I got inside the ball a little bit and I got them over to left [field] over the infielder, so it just kind of works out sometimes.”

As soon as Roki Sasaki looked like he was starting to find his stride at the big league level, the ugly habits returned, as the right-hander has posted a combined 8.36 ERA over his last three starts, most recently allowing three runs and five walks against the Padres on Friday.

Sasaki acknowledged that he wasn’t able to execute his pitches in his preferred manner, and with his next start also coming against San Diego, he’ll attempt to create a more effective game plan, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com.

“I’m not going to have it every time out, so that’s something I have to improve. And also the gameplan,” Sasaki said. “I was able to execute some of the pitches, but some of the pitches I couldn’t, so that’s something I have to go through before next start.”

“I’m not going to have it every time out, so that’s something I have to improve. And also the gameplan,” Sasaki said. “I was able to execute some of the pitches, but some of the pitches I couldn’t, so that’s something I have to go through before next start.”