Mookie Betts’ 3-run home run caps Dodgers’ rally against Nationals

LOS ANGELES — When Shohei Ohtani presumably returns to work on Monday after calling in sick for four days, he will find everything in order.

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Mookie Betts’ three-run home run in the eighth inning Sunday night gave the Dodgers a 7-5 comeback victory over the Washington Nationals, their fourth consecutive win with Ohtani limited to cheerleader.

In sweeping three games from the Nationals, the Dodgers scored nine runs against the Washington bullpen, one of the worst in MLB.

On Sunday, the usage chart was glowing red for a number of relievers, two starters are on the injured list (Roki Sasaki and Eric Lauer) and another is “unlikely” to pitch again this season (Ohtani – though he could return to the lineup at DH on Monday). So the Dodgers gave Justin Wrobleski his first start since Aug. 15 and Bobby Miller made his first MLB appearance since May 2025.

Wrobleski was essentially filling the ‘bulk’ innings role in a quasi-bullpen game on Sunday. Emmet Sheehan will return from Triple-A and do the same on Monday before the Dodgers return to the walk-of-fame portion of their rotation, with Tarik Skubal scheduled for Tuesday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Wednesday.

Wrobleski was on the injured list briefly with forearm inflammation – cover for shutting him down with a career-high in innings. The rust showed on Sunday.

He gave up two hits in the first inning but got a double play to escape damage. He stranded two runners in the second and had five strikeouts through three innings.

But C.J. Abrams led off the fourth inning with a home run, the first of five consecutive hits Wrobleski gave up before exiting. Two runs scored on Harry Ford’s double and another on Jacob Young’s single.

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Nationals starter and Los Alamitos product Andrew Alvarez had his own cheering section in the stands and kept them happy, allowing just one run through the first four innings. But the Dodgers chased him from the game and tied it up with three runs on five hits in the fifth inning.

The grab bag included a double into the left field corner by Tommy Edman (7 for 17 in four starts as the leadoff hitter in Ohtani’s absence), a timely-bounce single by Freddie Freeman and RBI singles by Will Smith and Teoscar Hernandez to drive in two-out runs.

The rains returned just as Miller made his return in the sixth inning. It was his first MLB outing after 15 months spent dealing with a persistent shoulder problem – and trying to reverse the career slide that started after an 11-win rookie season in 2023.

It didn’t start well. He gave up a resounding triple off the wall in center field to the first batter he faced, Daylen Lile. After a walk put runners at the corners, the Dodgers got Lile in a rundown after a ground ball to Kike’ Hernandez at third base. Miller got Nasim Nunez to bounce a grounder back to him and was on the verge of escaping without any damage.

After intentionally walking James Wood, though, Miller clipped Dylan Crews with a 3-and-1 curveball, forcing in the go-ahead run.

Miller gave the Dodgers two scoreless innings after that – thanks to Kyle Tucker’s home run robbery on Harry Ford’s drive to start the eighth inning.

Nothing seemed to be brewing as Nats reliever Will Dion retired the first two Dodgers in the bottom of the eighth. But Alex Call singled to center and Edman drew a walk, bringing up Betts. He got a 1-and-0 fastball up over the plate from Dion and launched it into the left-field pavilion for the game-deciding three-run home run.

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Miller got the win – his first MLB win since August 2024.