Recap: Mookie Betts Powers Dodgers To Sweep Of Nationals

The Los Angeles Dodgers mounted another comeback win — their 41st of the year — and completed a season series sweep of the Washington Nationals.

Mookie Betts played the role of hero with a three-run home run in the eighth inning. The Dodgers won all six games against the Nationals in 2026, and have taken nine of their last 10 head-to-head meetings in a stretch that dates back to April 9, 2025.

With the results of their respective games, the Dodgers remained ahead of the Atlanta Braves for the No. 2 seed in the National League standings.

Dodgers 7, Nationals 5: key takeaways

Justin Wrobleski’s start

Pitching for the second time since getting activated off the 15-day injured list, Justin Wrobleski’s night was done in by one bad inning.

He had six strikeouts through three scoreless innings but ran into trouble in the fourth. It started on a leadoff home run by CJ Abrams that tied the game.

Then two singles followed, and Harry Ford’s line drive to left field went over Teoscar Hernández’s glove on his attempt at a leaping catch. The two-run double gave the Nationals a lead that Jacob Young added onto by following with an RBI single that chased Wrobleski from the game.

Wrobleski’s night ended at three-plus innings and four runs allowed on eight hits. He made the spot start due to the Dodgers not having Roki Sasaki or Shohei Ohtani available to pitch. There had been some thought to having Emmet Sheehan take the ball, but he is expected to get recalled on Monday instead.

Dodgers’ comeback effort

For all their struggles over the better part of the last six weeks, the Dodgers have been improved of late. That surfaced again Sunday night as they erased a deficit and continued to keep pressure on a shaky Nationals bullpen.

Trailing 4-1 in the fifth inning, the Dodgers started to chip away, beginning with Tommy Edman’s RBI double. Will Smith followed a productive out with an RBI base hit, Freddie Freeman’s grounder then got through, and Teoscar Hernández tied the game by beating out an infield single.

The Dodgers eventually broke through in the late innings behind a game-winning, three-run home run by Betts.

Nationals’ tied the MLB record for most blown saves in a single season with 37.

Bobby Miller’s 2026 debut

Brock Stewart helped the Dodgers get through the fourth inning and Blake Treinen stranded a two-out walk in the fifth. The relay was then handed off to Bobby Miller for his first game with the Dodgers this season.

Unfortunately for Miller, his appearance began with a leadoff triple after Tommy Edman wasn’t able to come up with another spectacular catch and with that arrived a heavy downpour. Miller caught a break with the contact play running the Nationals into an out, but after an intentional walk of James Wood to load the bases with two outs, he grazed Dylan Crews with a pitch to bring in the go-ahead run.

Miller provided relief for the Dodgers bullpen in the form of three innings with just the one run allowed. He was aided by Kyle Tucker robbing Ford of a home run in the eighth.

Ohtani update

The Dodgers are now 4-0 in their games without Ohtani. Prior to this current stretch he had never been out of the Dodgers lineup for more than two games in a row, and that instance from April 18-19, 2025, was due to Ohtani going on the paternity list to welcome the birth of his first child.

The two-way superstar took swings in the batting cage on Saturday and is expected to make his return to the lineup for the series opener against the Cincinnati Reds. While that is a welcomed development, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani is unlikely to pitch in 2026.