Mookie Betts facing the media after Dodgers error was admirable, but he didn't make it better

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto was flirting with perfection on Saturday against the Chicago White Sox. With Yamamoto on the mound, and Shohei Ohtani back in the lineup, things were more normal for LA on Saturday, coasting their way to a 7-1 victory over the upstart White Sox.

The final score doesn't exactly tell the full story of the game. Yamamoto carried a perfect game into the eighth inning when Mookie Betts unfortunately put an end to it.

One out away from reaching the ninth inning with the perfect game intact, White Sox second baseman Chase Meidroth hit a grounder to Betts at shortstop. It was a player that Dodgers fans seen Betts make countless times, but on Saturday, it got the best of him.

Yamamoto and the Dodgers did manage to the reach the ninth inning with the no-hitter still at play, but that was quickly erased by a Tristan Peters home run to leadoff the frame. Of course, after the game, the focus was on Betts and the play that wasn't.

While Betts has struggled offensively this season, he's remained one of the better fielding shortstops in the National League. That reputation didn't help him in the moment during Saturday's eighth inning, but the 33-year-old didn't shy away from it either.

Mookie Betts' response to Dodgers' error rubs salt in the wound

Betts met with reporters after the game and wasn't afraid to talk about the play. Reporters tried giving the Betts the out of placing some of the blame on the pressure that comes with trying to keep the perfect game alive, but the veteran shortstop was simple in his response.

"Oh yeah, I was absolutely hyper-aware of it. I knew everything that was happening on the mound. That said, it didn't put any extra pressure on me. Like I said earlier, I'm not here to make excuses. That play was one I should've turned into an out for sure."

On one hand, Betts facing the media is admirable. The interview could have gone in any number of directions, and even when he was given the out of the pressure of the perfect game or the idea that the ball took one final hop before he could glove it, Betts pointed the finger at himself and said it was play that he had to make.

On the other hand, it doesn't help the rollercoaster of emotions Dodgers fans felt during the final outs of Saturday's game. Yamamoto was so close to history and it was snatched away by the last player fans would have expected it from.

If nothing else, it's a reminder that Betts is a pro's pro. But that doesn't mean it doesn't sting. Especially when it was just last September that Yamamoto was one out away from a no-hitter.

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