Mookie Betts flexed his arms and began to shout. Max Muncy simply looked to the sky and strolled slowly out of the batter’s box.

In the eighth inning Wednesday night, both hitters erased some recent frustrations in the Dodgers’ 9-3 win over the Athletics, delivering the key hits in a five-run rally that turned a close game into a laugher.

With one out, and Kiké Hernández standing at second base after being bunted over by Miguel Rojas following his leadoff single, the Athletics decided to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani. They wanted right-handed Tyler Ferguson to face Betts instead.

After showing some improvements with his slumping swing on last week’s road trip, Betts entered the at-bat back in another cold spell, stuck in a 0-for-7 rut to start this homestand that included a fly out that left two runners stranded in his previous at-bat in the sixth.

Read more:Dodgers call up catcher Dalton Rushing, designate Austin Barnes for assignment

This time, however, Betts crushed a double in the right-center gap. A 4-3 lead suddenly blossomed to a 6-3 cushion. And as Betts pulled into second, he turned toward the first-base stands (the same direction as the A’s dugout) and screamed with an animated celebration.

Three batters later, Muncy put the game away, clobbering a three-run homer that was a no-doubter off the bat. It was just Muncy’s second home run of the season, and snapped his own 0-for-8 skid to begin this homestand. As the ball sailed around the right-field foul pole, Muncy gave it a long look, admiring the kind of swing that has eluded him for much of the opening two months of the season.

In the bullpen, closer Tanner Scott took a seat. In a game that had been close for eight innings, his services wouldn’t be needed.

The Dodgers had broken a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning, when Miguel Rojas drove Michael Conforto home from first with a pinch-hit double.

Moments before that, Andy Pages had run into an out on the bases, getting overaggressive on a Conforto single by trying to go first-to-third. Thus, when Rojas hit his line drive the other way, it briefly seemed like the blunder would come back to cost the Dodgers a chance to go in front.

Instead, A’s center fielder JJ Bleday had trouble getting a grasp.

As Bleday booted his cut-off attempt, the ball bouncing off his glove as he slid along the outfield grass, Dino Ebel immediately put his arm in helicopter mode, the third base coach giving Conforto — chugging hard all the way from first — a green light to race to the plate.

Conforto beat the delayed relay. The Dodgers had their first lead since the third inning. And with their full stable of high-leverage relievers available (the ones currently not on the injured list, anyway), they never looked back again.

The Dodgers (28-15) did all of their early scoring the same way Wednesday, hitting three leadoff home runs in three innings against Athletics rookie starter Gunnar Hoglund.

Ohtani got things started in the first, belting his 13th homer of the season (and third to lead off a game) on a scorching line drive that carried over the right field wall.

The next inning, Pages walloped one the other direction, lifting his seventh blast of the season to the left-field bullpen.

In the fifth, Hyeseong Kim got his first MLB big fly, lofting a wallscraper to right for career home run No. 1.

The Athletics (22-21) got to Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto with their own long ball, Tyler Soderstrom hammering a two-run blast with two outs in the third when Yamamoto tried to steal a first-pitch strike with a curveball over the plate.

Outside that, however, Yamamoto was effective in a six-inning, three-run outing that left his ERA at 2.12 on the season. The only other score he allowed came in the fourth, when a leadoff walk to Shea Langeliers set up Miguel Andujar for an RBI double.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

For the first time since Game 5 of the World Series last fall, Juan Soto will play a game at Yankee Stadium.

During the weekend’s Subway Series, the ex-Yank will run out to right field in front of The Bronx’s Bleacher Creatures for the bottom of the first with the Mets. And he’s excited about making his return.

What excites him most? “The crowd,” he said after Wednesday’s game at Citi Field, via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo.

Even if the Yankees fans boo? “I don’t mind,” Soto answered.

Manager Carlos Mendoza anticipates the slugger, who was given the finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates off ahead of Thursday’s off day, will experience “a lot of emotions.”

"He’s going back, he’s gonna go in there and [remember] good memories,” Mendoza said. “He had a really good year with them, went to the World Series with them, it'll be exciting."

As a team, Mendoza said they are “ready to go.”

“It will be an exciting series, two teams playing well, two really good teams, pretty sure it will be fun,” he said.

After a Yanks-Mets matchup during spring training, Soto let slip what he anticipates happening. “You know, Yankees fans, they can surprise you with anything, so I'm expecting the worst," he said with a laugh.

After signing with the Mets in December, Soto thanked Yankees fans for showing him “all the love” in his lone season in The Bronx during his introductory news conference at Citi Field.

“They were there day in, day out. They really have a spot in my heart at the end of the day,” he said. “Tough we couldn’t get it together and try to be back, and stuff like that, but always going to appreciate what they did for me in 2024.”

Blame it on the rain?

The rain was always going to play a factor on a wet Wednesday at Citi Field. Unfortunately for Clay Holmes, the biggest cloudburst of the game came at a critical moment.

After a nine-pitch first frame, Holmes got two quick outs to start the inning before Isiah Kiner-Falefa yanked a sweeper on the outside corner to left for a single. And that is when the rain went from falling lightly to a bit steadier. Back-to-back sweepers landed in the zone to get ahead of Matt Gorski, before the intensity of the rain increased again.

On the next two pitches, the rain was not the issue, but home plate umpire Carlos Torres called a slider that appeared to be entirely in the zone a ball, and a 1-2 sweeper that was a bit higher was called out of the zone, as well.

“Two calls that we didn’t get there,” Mendoza said. “A full ball in the strike zone and we didn’t get that one, and then another one that clipped the strike zone and we didn’t get that one.”

“Some tough hops here,” Holmes said. “Losing grip on the ball there, trying to make pitches.”

The heavens opened up before Holmes could throw his next pitch. And when he did, the righty uncorked a fastball that went over the batter’s head and hit the backstop on the fly, bouncing all the way back to him. 

“At that point, it’s in the umpire’s hands, it's nothing we could do there,” Mendoza said about getting the game stopped. “Other than create the awareness and get it to their attention, but… it's their call.”

And after fouling off a sweeper toward the corner, Holmes hung his second 3-2 slider and it was clocked for a 407-foot home run to left through the driving rain.

“I think I went to the slider too many times there, but I thought it was probably the best thing I could control. I ended up getting beat with it,” Holmes said.

“He lost the feel for the ball there,” the manager said. “I’m not trying to make excuses here for him.”

To add insult to injury, after Holmes got the final out, the field was in such a state that the grounds crew needed 10 minutes of work to fix the infield and mound before the home half of the second could begin. 

“It was one of those things where you gotta compete through and try to make pitches,” Holmes said. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t make one there.”

Clay Holmes surrendered a pair of two-run home runs, and the Mets' bats got blanked by the Pirates in a 4-0 loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night at Citi Field.

On a dreary, rainy spring night, Holmes never really looked comfortable on the hill, and his teammates couldn’t pick him up in the batter’s box as New York went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base.

The Mets (28-16) took two of three from the Pirates (15-29) and had chances to make the visitors sweat, but managed just six singles in their fifth home loss out of 22 games. This was the second time they had been shut out this year.

Here are the takeaways...

-Holmes, making his first start on four days' rest of the year, retired the first five he faced before allowing a bloop single to left in the second. And after getting ahead 0-2 to Matt Gorski, the rain went from falling lightly to a downpour. Holmes, who was leaving some offspeed pitches up in the inning, had a 3-2 sweeper hang right over the plate and Gorski cranked it 407 feet to left for a two-run homer.

In addition to the rough luck on pitching through a tremendous cloudburst of rain, Holmes may have gotten squeezed by home plate umpire Carlos Torres on two off-speed pitches at the top of the zone to Gorski. 

Holmes rebounded for a streak of six-straight retired before a pair of two-out singles in the fourth brought Gorski to the plate. But Luisangel Acuña was able to make a fine play at second on a slow roller up the middle to end the threat.

Pittsburgh doubled the lead in the fifth on Ji Hwan Bae's beautifully executed drag bunt (38.9 mph off the bat) and Jared Triolo smacking a sinker that was up in the zone to left for a two-run shot (104.7 mph). A bloop single and walk gave them two on with one away, but Holmes got Joey Bart to bounce into a 5-4-3 twin-killing to avoid further damage.  

Holmes saved his best inning for last, getting a pair of strikeouts in a perfect sixth. His final line: 6.0 innings, four runs, seven hits, one walk, four strikeouts on 90 pitches (60 strikes). His average velocity was down on his sinker by nearly a mph, and his spin rate was down on his slider and sweeper.

- The Mets had chances to get the starter a cushion early off Pirates starter Bailey Falter as Mark Vientos singled and Pete Alonso worked a 10-pitch walk with one out. Starling Marte worked an eight-pitch walk with two outs to load the bases, but on the left-hander’s 32nd pitch of the inning, Luis Torrens went down swinging on a high slider.

New York, down pair, had the chance to get back into it with singles by Brandon Nimmo and Torrens in the fourth. And after Acuña worked a two-out walk, the bases were loaded again. New Pirates skipper Don Kelly summoned right-hander Chase Shugart from the bullpen and Carlos Mendoza decided to stick with José Azócar rather than an early pinch-hitter. Azócar hit a first-pitch lazy fly to center to leave ‘em loaded again.

- Alonso yanked a ball to left with two down in the fifth and was smelling a double, but while he beat the throw, he slid off the bag and Adam Frazier maintained the tag to end the inning. He finished the day 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

- Génesis Cabrera notched two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 seventh, getting five whiffs on eight swings. The eighth inning was less easy as a leadoff walk and back-to-back one-out singles loaded the bases. But he blew a fastball past Isiah Kiner-Falefa and got Gorski to pop out to second. 

Dedniel Núñez needed 13 pitches (seven strikes) for a clean ninth with a strikeout.

- Brett Baty entered as a pinch-hitter for Tyrone Taylor, who is in a 0-for-9 funk, to start the seventh and lined a ball 106.1 mph directly into the glove of Pittsburgh reliever Tanner Rainey. It was that kinda night.

Jeff McNeil, pinch-hitting for Azócar with two down in the inning, rocketed the Mets’ fifth hit (all singles) through the right side of the infield, but moved no further. 

As a result of those moves, Acuña moved out to center for his first taste there in the majors after playing there 35 times in the minors. Of course, he did not get tested by anything hit his way. (Baty went to second, and McNeil to right.) 

- In the last of the ninth, Marte pulled a leadoff single to left, but after Torrens popped out in foul territory to first, Baty clobbed a ball two steps in front of the wall in center and Acuña hit one to the warning track to end the game with a pair of loud outs. 

Baty’s drive (401 feet, 105.9 mph) would have left seven ballparks. Acuña’s (391 feet, 104.8 mph) would have left just one.

- Vientos, the night after an adventure at third, was back on the horse and made a good play cutting across Lindor and making a running throw in the first, and dealt with the wet conditions very well, handling several balls hit to the hot corner.

He finished 1-for-4 with a strikeout at the plate.

- Juan Soto was given the day off to give him an added day of rest ahead of the Weekend’s Subway Series game in The Bronx. Azócar got the start for him in right, worked a walk his first time up, but got picked off by the lefty. He finished the day 0-for-1

- The start of the game was delayed 15 minutes by rain, and rain fell throughout the game. The bottom of the second was delayed by nearly 10 minutes as the grounds crew tried to remove numerous wet spots on the infield from a deluge during the top half of the inning.  

What's next

The Mets have Thursday off before they open up the first Subway Series of the season on Friday night in The Bronx.

Right-hander Tylor Megill (3.10 ERA, 1.254 WHIP in 40.2 innings) gets the ball for the visitors and left-hander Carlos Rodon (3.29 ERA, 0.970 WHIP in 54.2 innings) will start for the Yankees.