Mookie Betts Homers Three Times as Dodgers Wallop Padres

The Dodgers brought their hitting shoes to work Thursday night in Los Angeles. Boy, did they ever, in trouncing the Padres, 11-2.

Mookie Betts led the way with three home runs through five innings, which he'd actually done once before. With a chance to add a fourth two innings later Betts managed only an infield single (the slacker) and settled for a 4-4 night, confident in the knowledge he’d tied a major league record by hitting three homers in a game for the sixth time in his seven-year career. The only other men to accomplish the feat are Hall of Famer Johnny Mize and former-Cub Sammy Sosa.

San Diego grabbed a two-zip lead with back-to-back first-inning home runs by Eric Hosmer and Tommy Pham off L.A. starter Julio Urias, who settled down nicely with five scoreless innings before coming out with one down in the seventh.

Corey Seager, appearing in his first game since injuring his back last Friday night, got the two runs back for his pitcher in the bottom of the first. Los Angeles would go on to hit three long balls off Padres' ace Chris Paddock and six in all.

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Betts' first homer of the game off Paddock in the second gave the Dodgers a 5-2 lead. Following an Austin Barnes home run in the fourth, Betts homered again, this time off Pads' reliever Luis Perdomo, to extend the lead to 9-2. His third of the night, a two-run job in the fifth (also off Perdomo) gave L.A. an 11-2 lead, which would prove to be the final score.

With the win the Dodgers (13-7) earned a split of the four-game series with San Diego (11-9), moved into a virtual first-place tie with Colorado (12-6) and increased its sport-leading run differential to +42. Los Angeles will travel down the 5 freeway to play a three game series with the Angels beginning Friday at 6:40 p.m, Clayton Kershaw versus Patrick Sandoval.

And remember, glove conquers all.

Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter.

Video courtesy of SportsNetLA/Los Angeles Dodgers.