KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mookie Betts is getting his prep work in before the Home Run Derby.
One day after being voted into the National League’s starting lineup for the All-Star Game and confirming that he would accept an invitation to compete in the Derby, Betts led off the game with a home run and added a second longball in his next at-bat. He drove in two more runs with a single and a double, finishing a triple shy of hitting for the cycle as the Dodgers beat the Kansas City Royals, 9-3, Friday night.
The game marked the halfway point of this year’s schedule. The Dodgers’ 46-35 record is their fewest wins at the midpoint (in a full season) since 2018. They are in second place in the NL West at the halfway mark for the fifth time in the past nine full seasons.
