LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers opened the last homestand of the regular season with a statement, powering past the San Francisco Giants 8-2 on Friday night at Dodger Stadium to secure a dominant win without Shohei Ohtani in the lineup. Five of the eight runs came off reliever Philip Abner, but the offense showed the depth Andrew Friedman envisioned when he signed Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million contract and Edwin Díaz to a three-year, $69 million deal last winter.
Mookie Betts set the tone immediately, jumping on a low-90s fastball from San Francisco starter Cesar Perdomo left middle-middle and sending it over the fence in left-center for his 33rd leadoff home run as a Dodger. After the bats went quiet, Teoscar Hernández tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth with a sharp liner to right that scored Josue De Paula from third. De Paula then drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI double in the sixth, before a five-run eighth inning put the game out of reach as Max Muncy, Tucker, Betts and Will Smith all went yard, with Muncy and Tucker hitting back-to-back blasts.
The night also marked the return of Díaz, who made his first big league appearance since Aug. 17 after a stint on the injured list amid health issues and poor performance in 2026. Manager Dave Roberts said he would not have used Díaz without the six-run cushion, wanting to give him leeway in his first outing back. Díaz responded with two quick outs, allowed a base hit up the middle, then buckled down to strike out Brett Harris on three pitches to seal the win as the trumpets blared again. "I liked everything," Roberts said. "I liked his intensity; I liked the fastball velocity. The slider was good. It was just really good to get him back in the mix and that's something to build on."
The through line was the 21-year-old De Paula, the No. 6 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline, who finished 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs and an RBI in his Dodger Stadium debut. He led off the fifth with a base hit ahead of Betts before scoring the tying run, then roped a 107 mph double into the right-field gap in the sixth to score Tucker from first, pounding his chest and flexing at second. He kept the eighth inning alive with a two-out, four-pitch walk — his seventh walk in a week in the big leagues — and five pitches later Betts blew the game open with a two-run homer. "I just love his at-bats," Roberts said. "It's one of those things that we knew coming up to the big leagues, he wasn't going to get overwhelmed, and it just helps when you control the strike zone. He takes his walks, when the ball is in the hitting zone, he can slug you but he also knows how to get a base hit. It's been very professional."
"The talent," Roberts said. "It's a high-floor talent level. I just like the way we're taking better team at-bats and making up for not having Shohei in there. Obviously, we're a better team with him, but it is nice to see there hasn't been a drop-off with him not in the lineup." Betts added, "I think that's the beauty in it. We just keep giving ourselves opportunities and eventually, something will crack. It did tonight, so we just have to keep getting guys on base and giving ourselves the chances and the hits will follow."