Through the first four innings on Monday night the Los Angeles Dodgers were stymied by Bartolo Colon and an onslaught of fastballs that topped out on the mid-90s. That bought the Minnesota Twins time to take a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning.
It wasn’t until Yasmani Grandal hit a solo home run with one out in the bottom of the fifth that the Dodgers broke through. Joc Pederson followed with a game-tying homer, giving the Dodgers back-to-back home runs for a seventh time this season.
Chris Taylor’s RBI single put the Dodgers ahead, 3-2, before Colon could get out of the inning. Grant Dayton failed to protect that, however, as he allowed a solo home run to Eddie Rosario in the sixth.
Rosario’s RBI double in the seventh inning gave the Twins a 4-3 lead. Minnesota relievers combined for two hitless innings before Taylor Rogers came undone in the bottom of the eighth.
Taylor led off the inning with a base hit and two batters later Justin Turner singled to left field. In stepped Cody Bellinger, who sent a curveball down the right-field line that hooked foul.
Bellinger straightened out his swing on the next pitch, another curveball that this time was on the outer-half of the plate. He drove the pitch to straightaway center field for a go-ahead, three-run home run.
The homer was Bellinger’s 28th this season, which leads the Dodgers. He received a curtain call and MVP chants. “I didn’t hear it at the time,” Bellinger said. “Kiké (Hernandez) told me to go. I was kind of confused, but I heard it after that. It was pretty cool.”
The Dodgers’ earned with their 26th comeback win this season and extended their all-time MLB record of consecutive wins in games they’ve held a lead to 47.
