Field Level Media
Aug 5, 2021
Max Scherzer struck out 10 over seven innings in his Los Angeles Dodgers debut and Mookie Betts hit a pair of home runs to power a 7-5 victory Wednesday over the visiting Houston Astros.
Scherzer (9-4), who was acquired at Friday's trade deadline from the Washington Nationals, gave up two runs on five hits with one walk in his fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season. He became the fourth Cy Young Award winner to take the mound for the Dodgers this season after Clayton Kershaw, Trevor Bauer and David Price.
Will Smith and AJ Pollock also hit home runs as the Dodgers split a brief two-game series with the Astros. The teams split the season series 2-2 in a rematch of the 2017 World Series, won by Houston.
Michael Brantley, Carlos Correa and Kyle Tucker homered for the Astros. Houston starter Jake Odorizzi (4-6) was tagged for seven runs (six earned) on six hits and four home runs over three innings.
Another boisterous crowd of 52,724 was on hand at Dodger Stadium to express their venom after the Astros' 2017 sign-stealing cheating scandal was revealed following the 2019 season. Scherzer acknowledged the gathering with a curtain call when his outing was complete.
Scherzer recorded three of his strikeouts against the Astros' Jose Altuve, who ended up with just the second four-strikeout game of his career.
The Astros grabbed the early 1-0 lead on Brantley's seventh home run of the season, a drive to right field in Scherzer's first inning with his new club.
Betts answered with a home run to lead off the bottom of the first inning. Smith added a three-run shot in the first, his 15th long ball of the season, to give Los Angeles a 4-1 lead.
Betts hit his second of the game in the second inning, his 17th of the season. Pollock hit a two-run homer off Odorizzi in the third to give the Dodgers a 7-1 lead, extending his hitting streak to 13 games and his on-base streak to 22.
The Astros added a run in the fourth inning on an RBI single from Tucker, and Correa hit his 17th home run in the eighth inning off right-hander Joe Kelly. Tucker hit a two-run homer, his 21st, in the ninth off Kenley Jansen.
Scherzer, Kelly and Jansen combined to strike out 15 Astros batters.
--Field Level Media