A back and forth affair at Dodger Stadium ended in some late-inning dramatics for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night as Cody Bellinger hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to earn a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
L.A. again guaranteed they wouldn’t suffer their first series loss and now are in position to sweep the weekend set.
Back in the lineup after what manager Dave Roberts joked was a “spa day,” Mookie Betts led off the bottom of the first with a walk. Corey Seager followed with a base hit to left field, beating the shift.
Betts alertly went first to third on the hit and wound up scoring when Nolan Arenado saw Seager make a wide turn at first base. Although he ran into an out, Seager was in the rundown long enough for Betts to scurry home.
Chris Taylor’s solo home run in the second inning provided Dodgers starter Dustin May with a 2-0 cushion to work with. However, he immediately gave back one of those runs as Sam Hilliard led off the third with a homer that carried more than halfway up the pavilion in right field.
The Rockies threatened again in the fifth inning when Hilliard walked and stole second base. A groundout advanced him another 90 feet, but May retired Raimel Tapia to preserve the Dodgers’ 2-1 lead.
May was removed at five innings, having thrown 81 pitches but only 54 for strikes. He finished with two walks and just one strikeout.
The Dodgers’ slim lead slipped away in the sixth inning as Nolan Arenado tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Blake Treinen inherited a runner at third base with two outs and promptly uncorked a wild pitch that allowed the go-ahead run to score.
Colorado gave it right back, starting a rally for the Dodgers by hitting Justin Turner with a pitch. AJ Pollock doubled and Cody Bellinger walked to load the bases with nobody out. Taylor bounced into a double play but it still scored the tying run.
Caleb Ferguson and Kenley Jansen did a nice job of keeping the Rockies off the scoreboard late, putting the Dodgers in a spot to walk it off in the ninth.
Bellinger didn’t waste any time getting it done, leading off the inning with his seventh home run of the year to complete the victory.
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