Rich Hill became the latest starter to turn in a strong outing, and Cody Bellinger carried the offense for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their 3-2 win over the Washington Nationals. The Dodgers moved seven games ahead of the Nationals and lowered their magic number to clinch the National League West to five.
As the Dodgers jumped out to a lead, Hill overcame the frequency with which he fell behind batters to keep the Nationals without a hit until the fourth inning. Hill retired the first four batters faced before walking Anthony Rendon with one out in the second.
He walked Nationals starter A.J. Cole the following inning but otherwise struck out the side and had six strikeouts through three scoreless innings. Rendon broke up Hill’s no-hitter with a two-out solo home run in the fourth.
Hill needed all of six pitches to retire the side in order in the fifth inning, and was at 74 pitches when he was pinch-hit for in the sixth.
That decision didn’t pay off for the Dodgers, as Logan Forsythe struck out swinging. Oliver Perez then retired Chase Utley to get the Nationals out of a jam after the first two batters reached in the inning.
While the Dodgers came up empty in the sixth, Cody Bellinger opened the scoring in the second inning with a line-drive solo home run to right field. The homer was Bellinger’s 38th this season, which tied him with Wally Berger of the Boston Braves (1930) and Frank Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds (1956) for the NL rookie lead.
Having already allowed a double to Utley, Cole hit Justin Turner with a pitch to put two on with two outs in the third. That proved costly, as Bellinger went down to get a pitch for an RBI flare single into left field.
Utley again found a hole in the shift for a leadoff double in the fifth inning, then advanced to third base on Corey Seager’s infield single. Turner’s sacrifice fly extended the Dodgers’ lead to 3-1.
Of note for Utley, the double was the 400th of his career. He became the 184th player in MLB history with at least 400 doubles in a career.
Seager’s inability to make a play on a soft chopper or a backhanded stop resulted in the Nationals putting runners at the corners with one out in the eighth. Trea Turner’s soft grounder to the left side rolled into the outfield for an RBI single.
Yasiel Puig helped atone for Seager’s suddenly shoddy play by laying out for a diving catch on Daniel Murphy’s sinking line drive, preserving the lead. Kenley Jansen retired Ryan Zimmerman, Rendon and Jayson Werth in the ninth to convert the save opportunity and extend the Dodgers’ winning streak to four games.
