Betts has tiebreaking RBI single in seven-run 9th inning as Dodgers beat Braves 9-2

ATLANTA (AP) — Mookie Betts had a tiebreaking RBI single with two outs in a seven-run ninth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 9-2 on Sunday night.

The loss dropped the Braves into a tie with the Mets for the third wild-card spot in the National League with 13 games to play.

The Dodgers hold a two-game lead on the Brewers in their pursuit of the National League’s No. 2 seed and first-round bye in the playoffs. They lead the Padres by four games in the N.L. West.

“I don’t want to say it was the biggest win of the year, but it felt big considering what we’ve been going through,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, whose team had lost six of nine entering Sunday.

Shohei Ohtani was 2 for 4 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored, but he did not homer or steal a base in his pursuit of MLB's first 50-50 season. He has 47 home runs and 48 stolen bases.

Teoscar Hernández, Tommy Edman and Max Muncy hit consecutive home runs during the ninth-inning outburst, which started against Braves closer Raisel Iglesias (5-2). He had not allowed an earned run in 35 1/3 innings entering the game, but was charged with the first five runs of the inning — which all came with two outs.

The Braves decided to intentionally walk Ohtani with two outs in the ninth and a runner on third with the score 2-2, leaving the game in Betts' hands.

“I wouldn’t pitch to him, either,” Betts said. “Fortunately, i was able to come through.”

Roberts said there are probably two players he would walk in order to face Betts.

“One plays in New York,” he said, referring to Aaron Judge. “And the other is in our clubhouse.”

Freddie Freeman followed Betts' go-ahead hit with a two-run single before the home runs.

Dodgers reliever Michael Kopech (6-8) earned the win after escaping a two-on, no-out jam in the eighth inning by getting Travis d'Arnaud to fly out and striking out Orlando Arcia and Jarred Kelenic.

Braves starter Charlie Morton went six innings, surrendering one run on three hits and two walks. He struck out six.

Matt Olson and d'Arnaud picked up the RBIs for the Braves in the third inning.

Dodgers starter Walker Buehler lasted six innings despite having 70 pitches after three. He gave up two runs, one earned on three hits and five walks. He had five strikeouts.

“The third time through (the lineup) in the last three innings, I got a couple first-pitch outs and early outs and some three-pitch punchouts,” Buehler said. “I kind of got rolling and felt good about it.”

Ohtani tied the score 2-2 in the seventh with a two-out RBI double to right field. Betts flew out to center field to end the threat.

Ohtani also doubled home a run for the Dodgers in the fifth inning to cut the Braves' lead to 2-1. With two outs, he lined a pitch to right field that scored Muncy. It was Ohtani's first hit in eight at-bats in the series.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Dodgers: Catcher Austin Barnes left the game in the fourth inning with a left big toe contusion. Will Smith replaced him. Roberts said Barnes will likely go on the injured list and Hunter Feduccia would be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City.

UP NEXT

The Braves and Dodgers will wrap up their four-game series in Atlanta with Los Angeles RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-2, 2.88) facing Atlanta LHP Max Fried (9-9, 3.46).

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Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani gives a thumbs up to the dugout after hitting a double in the fifth inning of a baseball game against he Atlanta Braves, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman awaits a teammate to bring out his glove and hat in the first inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie Morton throws in the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman prepares to swing at the pitch in the first inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani hits a double to right field in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler throws in the first inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Mookie Betts swings at the pitch in the first inning of a baseball game wearing 21 in commemoration of Roberto Clemente against the the Atlanta Braves, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

NEW YORK (AP) — In what appears to be a sophisticated, remote attack, pagers used by hundreds of members of Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria Tuesday, killing at least 12 people — including two children — and wounding thousands more.

A U.S. official said Israel briefed the U.S. on the operation — in which small amounts of explosive hidden in the pagers were detonated — on Tuesday after it was concluded. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information publicly.

The Iran-backed militant group blamed Israel for the deadly explosions, which targeted an extraordinary breadth of people and showed signs of being a long-planned operation. Details on how the attack was executed are largely uncertain and investigators have not immediately said how the pagers were detonated. The Israeli military has declined to comment.

Here's what we know so far.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying they could be used by Israel to track the group's movements. As a result, the organization uses pagers to communicate.

A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the exploded devices were from a new brand the group had not used before. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, did not identify the brand name or supplier.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday it had authorized use of its brand on the AR-924 pager model and a Budapest, Hungary-based company called BAC Consulting produced and sold the pagers. Further information on BAC wasn't immediately available.

Nicholas Reese, adjunct instructor at the Center for Global Affairs in New York University’s School of Professional Studies, said smart phones carry a higher risk for intercepted communications in contrast to the simpler technology of pagers.

This type of attack will also force Hezbollah to change their communication strategies, said Reese, who previously worked as an intelligence officer, adding that survivors of Tuesday's explosions are likely to throw away "not just their pagers, but their phones, and leaving their tablets or any other electronic devices.”

Even with a U.S. official confirming it was a planned operation by Israel, multiple theories have emerged Tuesday around how the attack might have been carried out. Several experts who spoke with The Associated Press explained how the explosions were most likely the result of supply-chain interference.

Very small explosive devices may have been built into the pagers prior to their delivery to Hezbollah, and then all remotely triggered simultaneously, possibly with a radio signal.

By the time of the attack, “the battery was probably half-explosive and half-actual battery," said Carlos Perez, director of security intelligence at TrustedSec.

A former British Army bomb disposal officer explained that an explosive device has five main components: A container, a battery, a triggering device, a detonator and an explosive charge.

“A pager has three of those already,” said the ex-officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he now works as a consultant with clients on the Middle East. “You would only need to add the detonator and the charge.”

After security camera footage appeared on social media Tuesday purporting to show one of the pagers exploding on a man’s hip in a Lebanese market, two munitions experts offered opinions that corroborate the U.S. official's statement that the blast appeared to be the result of a tiny explosive device.

“Looking at the video, the size of the detonation is similar to that caused by an electric detonator alone or one that incorporates an extremely small, high-explosive charge,” said Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordinance disposal expert.

This signals involvement of a state actor, Moorhouse said. He adds that Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, is the most obvious suspect to have the resources to carry out such an attack.

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, an expert in military arms who is director of the Australian-based Armament Research Services, notes that Israel had been accused of carrying out similar operations in the past. Last year, AP reported that Iran accused Israel of trying to sabotage its ballistic missile program through faulty foreign parts that could explode, damaging or destroying the weapons before they could be used.

It would take a long time to plan an attack of this scale. The exact specifics are still unknown, but experts who spoke with the AP shared estimates ranging anywhere between several months to two years.

The sophistication of the attack suggests that the culprit has been collecting intelligence for a long time, Reese said. An attack of this caliber requires building the relationships needed to gain physical access to the pagers before they were sold; developing the technology that would be embedded in the devices; and developing sources who can confirm that the targets were carrying the pagers.

And it's likely the compromised pagers seemed normal to their users for some time before the attack. Elijah J. Magnier, a Brussels-based veteran and a senior political risk analyst with over 37 years experience in the region, said he has had conversations with members of Hezbollah and survivors of Tuesday's pager attack. He said the pagers were procured more than six months ago.

“The pagers functioned perfectly for six months," Magnier said. What triggered the explosion, he said, appeared to be an error message sent to all the devices.

Based on his conversations with Hezbollah members, Magnier also said that many pagers didn’t go off, allowing the group to inspect them. They came to the conclusion that between 3 to 5 grams of a highly explosive material were concealed or embedded in the circuitry, he said.

Jenzen-Jones also adds that “such a large-scale operation also raises questions of targeting" — stressing the number of causalities and enormous impact reported so far.

“How can the party initiating the explosive be sure that a target’s child, for example, is not playing with the pager at the time it functions?” he said.

Associated Press journalist Johnson Lai in Taipei contributed to this report.

People donate blood for those who were injured by their exploded handheld pagers, at a Red Cross center, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)