The Los Angeles Dodgers silenced the San Diego Padres with a sweep that was capped off by a two-home run game from Cody Bellinger against Yu Darvish in the series finale.
Bellinger finished the game 3-for-3 with two home runs, two runs scored and two RBI. The multi-homer game was the 15th of his career and second this season against the Padres.
Entering the game, Bellinger was hitting .182/.231/.455 in his career against Darvish, so on Sunday he just tried to simplify his approach, which led to the home run and a single.
“You know, really just find the pitch I want to hit and putting my correct swing on the ball,” Bellinger said. “Obviously, it’s pretty simple. But that’s the key. I haven’t had much success off Darvish in the past, so really kept it simple today. Didn’t try to do too much.”
His second home run of the game came against Luis García in the seventh inning. Both were fastballs that Bellinger drove into left-center field.
“I haven’t got to see the broadcast yet,” Bellinger said when asked if the pitches were the same location. “Same pitch, don’t know about the location, but I was just able to put my swing on the pitch that I wanted to hit right there, and good things happened.”
Bellinger also made his fifth start of the season batting in the ninth spot, but he doesn’t think it ultimately matters where he hits in the Dodgers lineup. “Yeah, I mean, I guess it adds pretty, pretty good length, I’d imagine,” he said.
“I think it doesn’t really matter all too much where you hit on this team. So I just head down, focus on what I need to do and that’s all I focus on and feel good doing it.”
Despite the Padres getting the national notoriety following their aggressive trade deadline, the Dodgers outscored them 20-4 during the series. While the Dodgers maintained they didn’t add any extra motivation against the Padres, Bellinger was still happy to help defeat a great team.
“It obviously feels pretty good,” Bellinger said of the sweep. “With that being said, they definitely got better and their lineup was better. But we came in and played our game. And I think that’s the most important thing.
“It was nice to come home from a long road trip, play in front of the home crowd and just play the game the right way.”
Bellinger: Dodgers have special clubhouse
The Dodgers have now won eight straight games and earned their MLB-best 75th win, five more than the next closest team. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and some players have expressed that the team has a special atmosphere, and Bellinger shared a similar sentiment.
“I think when you see what we got in this clubhouse, you don’t expect this, but you kind of do,” Bellinger said. “Like, we’re a good team and we have a bunch of good players. And we’re just enjoying playing together, and we’re having a fun time doing it.”
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