Originally published by DodgerBlue.com
Will Smith has been enjoying a very successful season for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, hitting .297/.362/.519 with 36 RBI, 14 doubles and nine home runs.
Two of those home runs came on Wednesday as he led the Dodgers to a blowout win to earn the sweep of the New York Mets. The first of the two was his 100th career home run.
After reaching the century mark, he became just the fourth Dodgers catcher to accomplish that, joining Mike Piazza, Roy Campanella and Steve Yeager in the exclusive club.
Smith discussed what the milestone means for him after the game, via Juan Toribio of MLB.com:
“Yeah. That’s really cool. [Two of them] are Hall of Famers,” Smith said. “I’m sure they hit a few more than 100. It’s a cool accomplishment, cool milestone for me. But right now, I’m just focused on winning.”
Since entering the league in 2019, he has developed into one of the best all-around catchers in the Majors and was rewarded earlier this season with a big 10-year, $140 million contract from the Dodgers.
Smith’s average was in the .330s as late as May 7, but has slowed down a bit in his last 15 games with a .255 average. While his average may be down, his homers in the last seven games have gone up dramatically.
Four of his last seven hits have gone over the fence and a third of his nine home runs came in this past series against the Mets:
“Felt decent,” Smith said. “Not great the past couple weeks, but not bad either. Just continue to work in the cage with the hitting coaches and stick to my approach, and go out and execute it. But yeah, a couple balls went over the fence today.”
He was a catalyst for much of the Dodgers’ success during their sweep of the Mets. After the Dodgers offense struggled to get anything going early in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader, Smith got the team on the board in the first inning with his first of three home runs in the series.
That run was all the scoring the team needed, even though they ended up scoring two more runs, as Gavin Stone and Alex Vesia combined to shutout the Mets offense.
Smith’s biggest contributions came in the third and final game of the series where he once again gave the Dodgers an early lead with a solo home run. His second home run of the game helped the Dodgers retake the lead and ended up sparking a six run eighth inning to put the game out of reach.
Rain out was a blessing in disguise for Dodgers
The Dodgers entered this series against the Mets on their biggest losing streak in five years. The team had lost five consecutive games, which included being swept by the Cincinnati Reds.
That righting of the ship had to wait another day after Monday’s game was cancelled due to rain, but it gave the Dodgers an unexpected rest day and the team took full advantage of it.
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