Dodgers’ Mookie Betts Had Great Quote on Making Angels Pay for Walking Shohei Ohtani
The trouble with facing a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers is that they have weapons up and down their lineup. You can delay having to face one or two of their stars, but chances are someone else is going to make you pay for it. Tuesday night, that person was Mookie Betts.
The Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels went to extra innings Tuesday night. With first base open (and Kevin Kiermaier on second base) the Angels opted to walk Shohei Ohtani intentionally. That brought Betts up. He swung at the first pitch—a slider over the middle of the plate—for a home run, putting the Dodgers up in the crosstown rivalry game, 6-2.
Betts was interviewed on-field after the game. He had a great reaction to the Dodgers opting to face him instead of Ohtani, giving a casual reaction to being chosen to pitch to:
“That [display of emotion] doesn’t happen often, so I kind of [blacked] out. I just knew they walked Sho’ to get to me, and I was like alright. That’s kind of what you want,” Betts said. “I know Freddie [Freeman is] behind me, so they’re not gonna mess around,” Betts also explained as far as why he felt he could be aggressive at the plate.
