Mookie Betts seems to have a natural knack for the game’s tactics. It has been 5 times ever since two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani and veteran shortstop Betts swapped spots in the Dodgers’ lineup late last season. Now, with Ohtani leading off and Betts hitting second, the opposing teams have intentionally walked Ohtani to get Betts to the plate. Every time that happens, Betts makes sure that the opponents realize that it was a mistake.

He did exactly that when the Los Angeles Dodgers secured the 9-3 win against the Oakland Athletics. Just when the Athletics decided to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani, as elected by manager Mark Kotsay, Betts took it personally and delivered a key hit afterwards. From the Athletics’ point of view, they simply wanted to put two runners on base with one out. After all, they were facing a 4-3 deficit.

Meanwhile, Betts, after delivering his hit, looked back towards the Athletics’ dugout and yelled, “yeah! yeah! yeah!” Betts wanted to send this message to them: it wasn’t cool to intentionally walk Ohtani.

Later, after the game, Betts was in a position where he had to explain his fiery outburst. “It’s just all in the game, just being the competitor and just letting some emotions out.” Betts said. He expressed that when you’re in such intense games, you kind of get lost in it.

He further added, “I wouldn’t want to pitch to him either, and I knew when he was walking to the plate, they weren’t going to pitch to him.” The thing is, the Dodgers had a slim 2-1 lead and to turn things around, Betts crushed a two-run double into the right-center gap.

Then, Enrique Hernández and Ohtani made their way to home plate. Just like that, the crowd cheered but it wasn’t as loud as Betts’ multiple screams towards the A’s dugout.

Addressing Betts’ outburst, manager Dave Roberts acknowledged that Betts often takes such instances personally. “For him (Betts) to come through in that moment, which, when things like that do happen, it seems like he comes through more times than not.” It seems like it was Betts’ way of reminding the Athletics that he and his teammates can’t be underestimated.

Some more highlights of Dodgers vs Athletics

Indeed, the Wednesday Dodgers-Athletics matchup was all about Ohtani’s intentional walk and Betts’ fiery outburst. However, there’s more to the Dodgers’ 9-3 win over the Athletics. Ohtani and Andy Pages made sure to set the tone early in the game. Right in the first and second innings, they hit consecutive lead-off home runs, giving the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

Pushing through six stellar innings, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, with a 2.12 ERA, gave up three runs. He managed to hold it together, even though, from the past 4 outings, his velocity has been down and his command hasn’t been great either, which is otherwise great.

In the third inning, Tyler Soderstrom hit a two-run homer on Yamamoto’s curveball. And right in the next inning, his lead-off walk had set up Miguel Andujar for a go-ahead double.

Moving to the sixth inning, Miguel Rojas gave the Dodgers a stunning 4-3 lead as he came off the bench to pinch-hit a double that got Michael Conforto home from first base. The Dodgers had the leads stacked in their favor from the first inning to the last inning.

Praising the team’s performance as a whole, manager Dave Roberts said, “I just thought that tonight we competed really well. I thought the fight with our guys was really good.” Well, all said and done, the Dodgers really needed a win after Tuesday’s 11-run loss. And Betts? He made sure that the team got their share of wins.