LOS ANGELES -- The early going in 2023 has been frustrating for Jason Heyward, whose numbers at the plate have left something to be desired. His peripherals, as well as the eye test, offered reason for optimism, but overall the results had yet to match the approach.

Heyward certainly got results on both sides of the ball on Friday night, notching two hits, driving in a pair of runs and providing some strong defense in the Dodgers¡¯ 7-3 win over the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. It was his second consecutive multi-hit game and just his third of the season.

¡°Jason has swung the bat as well as anybody, if not better, as far as quality of contact,¡± said manager Dave Roberts. ¡°And tonight, I think he got rewarded, finally, with some seeing-eye ground balls and drove in some runs.¡±

Indeed, Heyward came into Friday ranked in the 99th percentile in MLB in hard-hit rate, 96th in average exit velocity and 92nd in maximum exit velocity. But he also entered the night slashing .191/.291/.404, with a batting average on balls in play of just .176, well below both league and his career averages. Conventional wisdom suggests that low BABIP is a matter of poor luck and regression to the mean can be expected with additional at-bats.

And Heyward found a bit of that luck against Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty. After a leadoff homer from Mookie Betts got the Dodgers on the board quickly in the first, Heyward tacked on another run with a grounder that got under the glove of Brendan Donovan at second base, bringing home Will Smith.

Heyward¡¯s next hit wasn¡¯t quite as well-struck -- it left the bat with an exit velocity of 57.4 mph -- but the placement was ideal. With the count 1-2 and Max Muncy on second, Heyward reached out and connected with a knuckle curve on the lower corner of the zone, cueing the ball barely fair down the third-base line, eluding the elite glove of Nolan Arenado for a double.

¡°Obviously, I love hitting the ball hard, love getting results, but missing somebody, those are breaks that you need to go your way throughout the season,¡± said Heyward. ¡°Don't take it for granted by any means -- getting hits, don't take it for granted how hard the game is.¡±

Stepping to the plate with runners on first and second, Heyward drove a 3-1 cutter to the warning track that right fielder Lars Nootbaar made a nice catch on, but home-plate umpire Nate Tomlinson called catcher interference on Willson Contreras. Heyward was awarded first, setting the stage for a run to come in on James Outman¡¯s hit-by-pitch.

Even with the collision with the glove, Heyward managed to drive the ball at an exit velocity of 99.9 mph. He said that while he¡¯d never hit the ball that hard on a catcher interference before, he had hit one that far, recalling a game against the Mets on April 7, 2012, with R.A. Dickey on the mound and Josh Thole behind the plate. On that play, Heyward was able to reach third base, and in that case, he naturally took the triple.

¡°Because that happened to me there in New York in 2012, I was prepared mentally,¡± said Heyward. ¡°So I was waiting to see if he caught it -- of course, go figure, I hit it hard, he caught it -- but luckily, it was a [beneficial] situation for us.¡±

In addition to contributing with the bat, Heyward made a few impressive plays in right field to show that the defensive talent that earned him five Gold Glove Awards is still there. The most notable was a sliding snag near the line on a slicing liner to take a hit away from Arenado in the third.

¡°Ah, man. Having J-Hey out there and [Outman] out in the outfield making the spectacular plays like that -- I mean, you can¡¯t complain about it,¡± said Dustin May, who allowed two runs in five innings while throwing a career-high 104 pitches. ¡°I mean, they definitely saved my butt a couple of times tonight.¡±