BOSTON — Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts returned to the team during the game on Saturday night after missing the previous night’s contest due to a death in the family.
“He got in about the third inning, fourth inning, something like that,” manager Dave Roberts said after Betts pinch hit and struck out looking for the final out against Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman in Boston’s 4-2 victory.
“He got his own plane to get here, found a way to get here and get loose,” Roberts said. “For me, it just meant a lot that he found a way to get here and be available and take the at-bat late.”
The 32-year-old Betts traveled to his home in Nashville, Tennessee, for the day off Thursday and missed Los Angeles’ 5-2 victory over his former team Friday night at Fenway Park.
“Mookie is: ‘Wheels up,'” Roberts said, sitting in the Dodgers’ dugout about two hours before the scheduled first pitch. “He’s on his way here and I expect him to be at the stadium sometime around, shortly after the first pitch.”
Roberts was asked if he could say why Betts, mired in one of the worst seasons of his career, left the team.
“I think its more for him to talk about. It was something with his family and a situation where he had to be home taking care of it,” Roberts said. “A death in the family. … For him to be with his family and to come back and be with his teammates is high priority.”
The 2018 AL MVP with Boston, Betts is batting just .237 with 11 homers and 45 RBIs this season. Last Saturday night, he was benched for a game against Milwaukee because of his struggles at the plate.
After not playing for that game, he’s gone just 3-for-18 with no homers or RBIs.
A World Series champion with the Red Sox in 2018, Betts was traded after six seasons in Boston to the Dodgers before the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, where he won his first of two Series titles with Los Angeles (in 2020 and last season).
Shortly after going to the Dodgers, Betts signed a $365-million, 12-year deal.
Some Red Sox fans were eagerly awaiting another return to Fenway by Betts, with a handful of both his Boston and LA jerseys sprinkled in the stands.
He got a loud ovation when he came out of the dugout to the on-deck circle, and it got louder when he walked to the plate.