CLEVELAND — — Mookie Betts matched his career high with five hits and drove in two runs, sending the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 6-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday in the completion of a suspended game.
Betts singled four times in the first six innings and had a two-run double in the eighth for the NL West-leading Dodgers, who are 18-3 in August. The seven-time All-Star, who also had five hits for Boston against Kansas City on Aug. 26, 2016, is batting .561 during an 11-game hitting streak and has a .456 average this month.
The teams were to play their regularly scheduled game later Thursday, with the Guardians’ Gavin Williams to face Ryan Pepiot.
Los Angeles led 3-1 after two innings Wednesday when heavy rain forced play to be suspended after a 1 hour, 37 minute stoppage. Another round of storms arrived after the bottom of the eighth Thursday, delaying the game for 72 minutes.
Gus Varland (1-0) worked 1 1/3 innings for his first big league win as seven pitchers combined for a four-hitter. Guardians starter Xzavion Curry (3-2) gave up three runs in three innings.
Kiké Hernández had a two-run double, Freddy Freeman had three hits and an RBI and Will Smith added a sacrifice fly for the Dodgers.
Cleveland’s lone run came in the first when José Ramírez homered off Clayton Kershaw, who struck out four over two innings in his third start since returning from a sore left shoulder.
The Guardians completed their first suspended home game since June 24-25, 1994, when they lost to the Yankees at Cleveland Stadium.
HOMECOMING
Guardians C Eric Haase, who was claimed off waivers from Detroit on Monday, appeared in his first game with the franchise since 2019. He went 1 for 4 after batting .201 with four homers and 26 RBI for the Tigers.
Haase was a seventh-round pick by Cleveland in the 2011 amateur draft but only played in 19 major league games before being designated for assignment eight years later.
UP NEXT
Dodgers: RHP Lance Lynn (9-9, 5.60 ERA) makes his fifth start for Los Angeles in the opener of a three-game series in Boston. Lynn is 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA since being acquired from the White Sox.
Guardians: RHP Tanner Bibee (9-3, 3.01 ERA) pitches the first game of a three-game series in Toronto. Bibee is tied for first among AL rookies in victories with Houston’s Hunter Brown and J.P. France.
