The Dodgers didn’t exactly look like a team trying to hand over momentum Friday night. Fresh off a walk-off win that kept them from getting swept on Thursday, Los Angeles opened its three-game set with Washington and kept the pressure on early in a 5-3 win.
It was the same kind of businesslike night the Dodgers had already delivered in April, when they swept the Nationals at Nationals Park from April 3-5 and outscored them 31-17. In that series, seven different Dodgers homered and the club piled up nine total home runs. This time, the result was familiar too: Los Angeles has now won five straight against Washington dating back to June 22, 2025.
The offense got support from a trio of slumping bats that needed it. Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker all entered with down years in 2026, but each played a part in Friday’s win.
For Betts and Hernández, the performance fit a recent trend. Both have started to heat up over the last few games.
Tucker sparked the third-inning rally with a leadoff walk, then came around to score after Kiké Hernández also walked and Betts singled. With two runners still aboard, Teoscar Hernández cracked a two-run double that brought home Kiké Hernández and Betts and pushed the Dodgers ahead 3-0.
Teoscar Hernández has been rolling lately. Over his last seven games, he’s hit .423/.516/.654, and the Dodgers have liked the quality of his at-bats since the series against the Detroit Tigers.
The Nationals answered with a small threat in the fourth, when Alex Call opened the inning with a double and later scored on a two-out error. But that was as close as Washington got for much of the night.
Los Angeles added to the cushion in the sixth on Tucker’s solo homer, his first since Aug. 8 and his first at Dodger Stadium since July 15. It was his 12th of the season.
Blake Snell kept the game under control for most of the night. He worked six shutout innings, allowed five hits, struck out seven and walked two. Washington went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded five runners against him.
Since coming off the injured list, Snell has been a force. He’s punched out 38 hitters in 29 innings, and his ERA dropped to 1.97 in 32 total innings with 43 strikeouts and a 1.09 WHIP.
Friday’s five hits were the most he’s allowed in a start since returning. After giving up five runs, four earned, in his first outing of the season on May 9, he’s now gone through five starts without allowing more than one earned run in any of them.
The bullpen made things a little messy late. Edgardo Henriquez threw a perfect seventh with two strikeouts, and Tanner Scott came in to finish the eighth after Kyle Hurt allowed two runners to reach.
Scott kept those runners from scoring, but Washington finally broke through in the ninth, scoring three runs and bringing the tying run to the plate despite the 5-0 cushion. Seth Halvorsen gave up three runs on three hits, and Jack Dreyer finished it off by recording the final three outs, allowing one hit and striking out one.
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