Bellinger’s bat and arm help Dodgers win

LOS ANGELES — — Cody Bellinger hit a mammoth home run in tonight’s game. That might have been the third most impressive play he made in the Dodger 9-5 win over the Mets on Monday night.

In the first inning, the Mets had already scored a run when Todd Frazier singled to right. Mike Conforto attempted to score from second but Bellinger threw him out to keep it at 1-0.

The second play was made when the Mets looked like they could come all the way back after trailing by five runs.

Joe Kelly came in to pitch and he faced three batters. A single, two-run homer and another single later meant his night was over. Dylan Floro was able to get one out but two other batters reached to load the bases.

Kenley Jansen came in to attempt a five-out save. J.D. Davis would hit a fly ball to right field and you immediately thought it was now a two-run game.

Bellinger made the catch and threw the ball to third base. Not only did Bellinger throw out Carlos Gomez, the Dodgers recorded that third out before Tomas Nido touched home plate. so the Dodgers still led by three going to bottom of the eighth inning.

The Dodgers would score a run in the bottom of the eighth when Chris Taylor singled home Corey Seager to give them a four-run lead.

Kenley Jansen was able to close it out in the ninth and the Dodgers were now 36-18 at the one/third mark of the season.

Prior to the excitement in the top of the eighth, the Dodger offense was the story as they had another big sixth inning. Chris Taylor tied the game with a solo home run off Tyler Bashlor.

With the game tied at 3-3, Kiké Hernandez hit a three-run homer that broke that tie. The Dodgers were not done as they would score two more runs when Corey Seager was hit by a pitch with the bases-loaded and Alex Verdugo drove in the last run with a sacrifice fly.

All of that activity almost made you forget the marquee pitching matchup that you might have imagined when you saw Clayton Kershaw was pitching against Jacob deGrom. It was the kind of game where both pitchers had singles off one another.

It was also this kind of night for Kershaw.

Both pitchers had to battle to keep the score down and when their nights ended, one got the win and the other took a no-decision.

Jacob deGrom pitched five innings and gave up two runs and seven hits. He struck out two and walked one. He left leading by a run by that would change.

Kershaw would finish his sixth inning unscathed and leave behind in the game. In those six innings, he gave up three runs and ten hits. Kershaw struck out five and walked one.

This made it 20 regular season starts in a row where the Dodgers have won with Kershaw making the start.

Before the six-run sixth inning, both teams put up runs in a more orderly fashion.

The Mets scored when one of the best rookies in baseball, Pete Alonso, singled sharply to left and Amed Rosario scored from second base. That gave the Mets a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

In the bottom of the first, the Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs. After Cody Bellinger fouled out, Corey Seager hit a ground ball to the right side of the infield, Alonso was able to get the force out at second base and then the umpire called out Seager to make it a double play.

The Dodgers requested a replay review and the call was reversed and the Dodgers tied the game 1-1.

Bellinger missed a chance to drive in a run in the first inning but the next time he came up, he walloped a solo home run to right field to give the Dodgers a one-run lead.

After getting to the fifth inning with still one run allowed, Kershaw would get momentarily saved when Corey Seager threw out Tomas Dido at the plate. But then before you could blink, J.D. Davis pulled a line drive two-run homer to left to give the Mets the lead. Kershaw would then give up his third extra-base hit of the inning before getting Alonso to ground out.

Monday particulars

WP: Clayton Kershaw (5-0), 6 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO

LP: Tyler Bashlor (0-2), ⅓ IP, 3 H, 3 ER

SV: Kenley Jansen (15), 1⅔ IP, 1 H, 3 SO

Home Runs: Cody Bellinger (19), J.D. Davis (6), Chris Taylor (4), Kiké Hernández (8), Adeiny Hechavarria (3)

Up next

If things go as planned, the Dodgers will have catcher Will Smith making his first major league start in the second game of this four-game series. It will be two left-handed pitchers going against each other as Rich Hill and Steven Matz take the mound for their respective teams tomorrow. First pitch will be at 7:10 p.m. PDT.