After he became a mainstay and integral component in the lineup, the Los Angeles Dodgers added a Cody Bellinger bobblehead night to their giveaway and promotional calendar last season. It was distributed to fans at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 8, when the Colorado Rockies were in town.
The bobblehead depicted Bellinger as having completed a swing and staring off into the sky, fittingly as if he’d hit a home run. However, in the series opener against the Rockies, the rookie went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
Thus, Saturday night provided Bellinger with an opportunity at redemption. But it wouldn’t come easy, as the Dodgers faced Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals.
Bellinger’s drought on his bobblehead night extended into the eighth inning. He’d gone 0-for-3 with one strikeout against Scherzer.
Bellinger’s fortunes changed with one crack of the bat. He sent a pitch from Nationals reliever Carlos Torres deep into the right-field pavilion for a two-run home run. It brought about some excitement and relief for Bellinger, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“It’s always nice on a Bobblehead day, extra special,” said Bellinger. “Facing starters like Scherzer and Strasburg is not fun offensively. Grind out all those at-bats. So, it’s nice to get a win. They expect to win when those guys start, like we do with Kershaw on the mound.”
On the season, Bellinger is batting .289/.333/.474 with three doubles, one triple, three home runs and seven RBI. He’s hit safely in eight of the past 10 games and has slowly rounded into the form that led to a unanimous Rookie of the Year Award, which Bellinger’s bobblehead had on display.
