Mookie Betts delivered the knockout punch Sunday night, and the Dodgers rode it to another comeback win and a season sweep of the Nationals.
Los Angeles erased a deficit, won 7-5, and finished 6-0 against Washington in 2026. The Dodgers have now taken nine of the last 10 meetings between the clubs, a run that dates back to April 9, 2025. The victory also kept the Dodgers ahead of the Atlanta Braves for the No. 2 seed in the National League standings.
The game turned in the eighth, when Betts launched a three-run home run to put the Dodgers in front for good. It was the latest chapter in a stretch that has seen Los Angeles keep finding ways to pull out games after spending much of the last six weeks fighting through rough patches.
The rally started earlier. Down 4-1 in the fifth, the Dodgers began trimming the margin with Tommy Edman’s RBI double.
Will Smith followed with an RBI base hit after a productive out, Freddie Freeman sent a grounder through, and Teoscar Hernández tied the game by beating out an infield single. From there, Betts finished the job.
The Nationals didn’t help themselves, either. Their bullpen has been a mess, and the club tied the MLB record for most blown saves in a single season with 37.
On the mound, Justin Wrobleski’s second outing since returning from the 15-day injured list unraveled in one ugly fourth inning. He struck out six through three scoreless frames, then watched the game flip when CJ Abrams opened the inning with a leadoff homer to tie it.
Two singles came next, and Harry Ford lined a ball to left that got over Teoscar Hernández’s glove on a leaping attempt. That two-run double put Washington ahead, and Jacob Young followed with an RBI single that ended Wrobleski’s night.
Wrobleski was charged with four runs on eight hits in three-plus innings. He was making the spot start because the Dodgers didn’t have Roki Sasaki or Shohei Ohtani available to pitch. There had been some thought about Emmet Sheehan taking the ball, but he is expected to be recalled on Monday instead.
The Dodgers’ bullpen then pieced things together until Bobby Miller entered for his first appearance with the club this season. Brock Stewart got them through the fourth, and Blake Treinen stranded a two-out walk in the fifth before the handoff to Miller.
Miller’s night opened with a leadoff triple after Tommy Edman couldn’t make another highlight catch, and then a heavy downpour arrived. He escaped a contact-play situation that cost Washington an out, but after intentionally walking James Wood to load the bases with two outs, he hit Dylan Crews with a pitch to force in the go-ahead run. Miller still gave Los Angeles three innings and allowed only that one run, with Kyle Tucker helping him out by robbing Ford of a home run in the eighth.
There was also an Ohtani update after another Dodgers win without him. Los Angeles is now 4-0 in games he has missed. Before this stretch, he had never been out of the lineup for more than two straight games, and that previous absence came April 18-19, 2025, when he was on the paternity list for the birth of his first child.
Ohtani took swings in the batting cage on Saturday and is expected back in the lineup for the series opener against the Cincinnati Reds. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also said Ohtani is unlikely to pitch in 2026.
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