May 6, 2017
Cody Bellinger hit his 1st career grand slam, as the Dodgers routed the Padres 10-2 on Saturday night at Petco Park.
Bellinger was 2-4 on the evening, with 5 runs batted in. Clayton Kershaw (5-2) pitched 7 1/3 innings, giving up just 1 earned run on 5 hits, striking out 9 Padres along the way.
The game was scoreless until the 4th when Bellinger got things started with an RBI single that scored Justin Turner. The Dodgers would tack on two more in the inning on a pass ball from Padres’ catcher Austin Hedges, scoring Franklin Gutierrez, and then an RBI single from Yasiel Puig, which scored Bellinger.
Kike Hernandez made it 5-0 in the 5th inning with a 2-run double, scoring Justin Turner and Chris Taylor.
That was all for Padres’ starter Clayton Richard (2-4). He allowed 5 runs on 7 hits on the night.
The Friars only offense of the night came on a solo homer by Ryan Schimpf, his 8th of the season, which came off of Kershaw in the 8th. They would also add an unearned run in the 9th inning on a fielding error by Justin Turner.
Bellinger is now hitting .357 for the Dodgers. In the first two games of this series, he’s 5-9 with 3 homers, 9 RBI, and 4 runs.
Chris Taylor walked three times and scored twice. He is one of just five MLB players this season with at least 30 plate appearance whose OBP and OPS are greater than .470 and 1.07 respectively.
The only bad news for LA was the amount of exertion Kershaw and Kenley Jansen put forth for a 10-2 rout. Kershaw threw 118 pitches, and Jansen threw 33. Skipper Dave Roberts said that Kershaw would likely get an extra day of rest before pitching again, while Jansen indicated that he likely would not be available tomorrow.
The Dodgers improved to 17-14 on the season, and remain two games back of 1st place Colorado in the NL West. The Dodgers are scheduled to go for the sweep on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park, but Roberts was told it is “unlikely” they’ll be able to get the game in based on the weather forecast. The scheduled starters are Brandon McCarthy (3-0; 3.10 ERA) for the Dodgers, and Trevor Cahill (2-2; 3.60 ERA).