Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Happy Easter!
Today the Dodgers and Brewers rewarded people who actually tuned in with a barn burner that probably shouldn’t have been. The Boys In Blue jumped out to a 5-0 lead before giving it back on two homers, but Cody Bellinger was the second Dodger in as many games this series to beat Josh Hader with the long ball and gave the Dodgers a dramatic 6-5 victory.
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The bats were up for this early game, as birthday boy Joc Pederson led things off with a shot to straight-away center field for his 9th of the season and an early 1-0 lead.
Corey Seager finally seemed to look like he was getting hot, going the other way for a double and eventually scoring after a one-out single from Bellinger to make it 2-0.
The Dodgers added two more in the second behind a two-out rally. A Joc single, Seager double, Justin Turner walk, and Bellinger single plated two more in the span of four batter as the Dodgers raced out to a 4-0 lead. They made it 5-0 in the 4th when Joc went yard on a lined bullet over the right-field fence for his 10th dong of the season.
Normally that would mean the game is long over with Clayton Kershaw on the mound, and for the most part he ensured that it was. Kershaw gave the Dodgers 92 pitches and six strong innings, striking out seven and allowing just two hits and four walks. However, he did give up two runs on a Lorenzo Cain homer in the 4th to cut the lead to manageable distance at 5-2.
That shouldn’t matter, but the pen this year hasn’t inspired confidence. After Scott Alexander got a scoreless 7th, allowing just a hit and notching a strikeout, Pedro Baez entered for the 8th. He got two outs, but one of those outs was Bellinger robbing a Christian Yelich homer, and he also allowed two singles.
Thus, Kenley Jansen was summoned with the tying run at the plate, but Eric Thames lit up a flat 94 mph cutter up in the zone to tie the game at 5-5.
That brought in Hader for the Brewers, who last time out gave it up to Enrique Hernandez. This time he looked dominant, striking out Seager and Turner, and getting Bellinger down in the count 1-2. However, Cody turned around a slider that caught too much plate for his 11th dong of the year to give the Dodgers a dramatic 6-5 lead.
Kenley then rebounded in the 9th, notching a 1-2-3 frame with two strikeouts, which was of the utmost importance since Yelich was due up fourth.
Phew.
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The Dodgers improve to 14-9 on the season after taking three of four from the Brewers. After a day off tomorrow, the Dodgers travel to Chicago to play the Cubs at 2:05 PM HST/5:05 PM PST/8:05 PM EST, with Kenta Maeda facing off against Jose Quintana.
