LATIMES.COM/SPORTS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2019D5
Michael Wacha craned
his neck, his gaze going from
the plate to the sky. In right
field, Jose Martinez barely
moved. In the broadcast
booth, Joe Davis could only
repeat himself.
“Oh my gosh,” Davis said,
watching the baseball hook
around the foul pole into the
second deck in right field at
Dodger Stadium. “Oh my
goodness.”
Cody Bellinger’s first-in-
ning three-run home run
Monday, his 37th of the sea-
son, was that mesmerizing.
“A monster shot,” Davis
continued on the broadcast.
“He’s tied with Yelich.”
Except that last part
wasn’t true. In what is shap-
ing up to be a historic home
run battle, the leaderboard
changes fast. Though Bell-
inger entered the night with
the second-most home runs
in the majors, trailing Mil-
waukee slugger Christian
Yelich by one, the tables had
already turned by Bell-
inger’s first at-bat.
At the start of play Mon-
day, baseball’s home run
leaders were: Yelich (37),
Bellinger (36), the Angels’
Mike Trout (36) and the New
York Mets’ Pete Alonso (34).
Then Yelich launched a solo
shot (his 38th) in Pittsburgh
at 4:13 p.m. Pacific time. At
5:57, Trout went deep (his
37th) in Cincinnati. At 7:15,
Yelich hit another homer
(39th) that splashed into the
Allegheny River. Seven min-
utes after that, Alonso left
the park (his 35th) in New
York.
Bellinger’s moonshot
didn’t occur until 7:26. Ac-
cording to STATS, it was
only the fourth time in MLB
history that the league’s top
four home run hitters all hit
at least their 35th home run
on the same day.
“Pretty crazy day,” Bell-
inger said when told of the
stat.
The chase for the home
run crown might turn even
more bizarre. Excluding the
steroid era (1993-2002),there have never been more
than two 50-home run hit-
ters in the same season. This
year, Yelich, Bellinger, Trout
and Alonso are all on pace toget there — and they seem to
be unknowingly one-upping
one another every night.
Trout and Alonso also
homered Tuesday.Bellinger says he isn’t
purposely tracking the other
home run contenders.
Really, he doesn’t need to. As
the numbers mount, the
hunt becomes almost ines-
capable. Once he got to the
clubhouse after the game
Monday, he was immedi-
ately made aware of what
had happened.
“I was not aware until af-
ter,” he said. “When I was
told.”
Bellinger had been in a
mini-slump during the sec-
ond half of July. Over his fi-
nal 12 games of the month,
he went just nine for 40 with
three doubles, three RBIs
and zero home runs. In thefive games since the start of
August, he already has three
homers.
“The one consistent is
that he’s been in the strike
zone for the entire season,”
manager Dave Roberts said.
“He’s taken his walks. His
on-base [percentage] has al-
ways been good. But when
he barrels it and elevates it,
it’s going to leave the ball-
park.”
Which is what he did to a
95-mph fastball Wacha left
down the middle Monday to
keep pace in the blistering
home run chase.
“You don’t really feel it
[off the bat],” Bellinger said.
“You just kind of watch it.”Bellinger keeps up in wild homer race
Dodgers’ slugger,
Trout, Brewers’ Yelich
and Mets’ Alonso
could all hit 50.
By Jack Harris
CODY BELLINGER HADbeen in a mini-slump
before finding his power stroke again in August.Mark J. TerrillAssociated PressBASEBALL
Power surge
After seeing his batting average, on-base percentage and
slugging percentage all decline for three consecutive
months, the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger has hit three home
runs in six games in August. His numbers by month:
Month AB R H HR RBI AVG. OBP. SLG.
March-April 109 32 47 14 37 .431 .508 .890
May 94 18 30 6 15 .319 .413 .585
June 92 17 25 7 15 .272 .391 .576
July 83 19 22 7 13 .265 .386 .566
August 20 4 4 3 8 .200 .272 .650Tony Gonsolin dazzled
over six scoreless innings in
his Dodger Stadium debut
Monday. On Tuesday, he
was a minor leaguer again.
The Dodgers optioned
the right-hander to triple-A
Oklahoma City on Tuesday
as part of a cluster of roster
moves. It was not unexpect-
ed. Gonsolin took Hyun-Jin
Ryu’s spot in the rotation,
Ryu’s return from the in-
jured list was impending and
the Dodgers want Gonsolin
to continue starting every
five days.
Dodgers manager Dave
Roberts confirmed that
Ryu, out since Friday be-
cause of a sore neck, will
start Sunday against the Ar-
izona Diamondbacks. Ryu
has posted a league-leading
1.53 ERA — nearly a run bet-
ter than anyone else — in
13 5^2 ⁄ 3 innings, his heaviest
workload since 2014.
In the meantime, left-
hander Caleb Ferguson was
recalled from Oklahoma
City to give the Dodgers an
extra reliever.
Roberts said Gonsolin
will return to Oklahoma City
as a starting pitcher and is
slated to make his next start
Monday. But he acknowl-
edged Gonsolin remains an
option to pitch out of the
bullpen for the Dodgers in
October.
“I could see him in both
roles,” Roberts said. “The
rubber’s going to meet the
road here in about less than
a couple weeks. We got to fig-
ure out which direction we
go with all these guys. But
right now you still want to
keep guys built up just to
guard against a potential in-
jury from somebody.”
Gonsolin, 25, was almost
exclusively a reliever as a
professional until last sea-
son. It is experience the
Dodgers could tap into to
bolster their bullpen in the
postseason.
But Gonsolin’s stock
soared when his role shifted.
He put his potential on dis-
play Monday, limiting the St.
Louis Cardinals to two hits
and a walk across six innings
in his third major league ap-
pearance.
It was Gonsolin’s best
outing at any level this sea-
son, which has been hin-
dered by injuries. His six in-
nings and 90 pitches were
season highs. He owns a 4.95
ERA across 36^1 ⁄ 3 innings in 12
starts for Oklahoma City.
He returns to the minors,
perhaps for only a brief pe-
riod, firmly on the Dodgers’
radar.
“With Tony, everything’s
in play,” Roberts said. “I
think part of it is it’s been
such an abbreviated year for
him because of his injuries
and so, not to say it’s a lost
year, but you want to make itas productive a season for
him as possible, as far as in-
nings pitched.”Verdugo goes
on injured list
The Dodgers placed out-
fielder Alex Verdugo on the
10-day injured list with a
strained right oblique as
their list of injuries contin-
ues to pile up. Corner infield-
er and outfielder Edwin
Rioswas recalled from Okla-
homa City.
Verdugo sustained the
injury attempting to avoid a
ground ball on the base-
paths Sunday in the Dod-
gers’ win over the Padres.
Roberts indicated the rook-
ie probably would miss at
least two weeks.
Verdugo, 23, is batting
.294 with 12 home runs and
an .817 on-base-plus-slug-
ging percentage while pro-
viding plus defense in the
outfield. He joins Chris Tay-
lor, Enrique Hernandez,
David Freese, Ross Strip-
ling and Rich Hill on the in-
jured list.
“It’s more, you got to let it
heal up and give it time for it
to heal and then resume ac-
tivities,” Roberts said. “So
that’s the tough part when
you’re talking about rota-
tion, whether it be throwing
or swinging a bat. So with Al-
ex, we’ve got to take our time
and make sure we get this
behind us.”
Without Verdugo, who
had settled into left field
since center fielder A.J. Pol-
lock’s return last month, the
Dodgers will turn to a combi-
nation of Matt Beaty, Joc
Pederson and Rios in left
field.
The Dodgers are also
closely managing Pollock
since he suffered a groin in-
jury last week. He was not in
the lineup Tuesday for the
fourth time in five games.Stripling suffers
a setback
Stripling was scheduled
to go out on a rehab assign-
ment Tuesday, but the plans
were scratched because
his neck trouble resurfaced.
Stripling is officially on
the 10-day injured list with
right biceps tendinitis since
July 25, but he initially dealt
with neck soreness. The
neck problem forced him to
exit his start — on July 24 —
after five innings.Barnes hitting
The Dodgers sent Austin
Barnes to triple A on July 25
after a months-long slump,
hoping he could solve his
problems at the plate. His
last four games for Okla-
homa City are encouraging.
The catcher is eight for 18
with a home run in each
game.
He hit five home runs in
70 games for the Dodgers.DODGERS REPORTGonsolin sent
to triple A with
a strong rating
By Jorge Castillogame.”
First baseman Cody Bell-
inger also made a couple of
nifty plays to help Kershaw
shut down the Cardinals
(58-54) over seven innings
after a rocky start. He
shaped his slider and
changed speeds with it to
torment batters. He landed
his curveball for strikes. His
fastball was crisp, steadily
touching 92 mph.
Kershaw gave up one run
and four hits. He accumulat-
ed nine strikeouts and one
walk after issuing a season-
high five bases on balls in his
previous outing. The recipe
created Kershaw’s 11th win
and 20th straight start of at
least six innings. His ERA
sunk to 2.77 as the Dodgers’
magic number to clinch the
National League West
dropped to 30.
“This guy is the best
pitcher of our generation,”
Dodgers manager Dave
Roberts said. “So to count
him out, or think he can’t do
something, you’re not going
to hear from me.”
The offense capitalized
on its few opportunities to
stock just enough support.
Kristopher Negron, continu-
ing his strong start as a Dod-
ger, lined a two-out RBI sin-
gle in the second inning and
Justin Turner smacked an
RBI double in the third. The
final blow came in the sev-
enth inning on Max Muncy’s
two-out run-scoring ground
ball through the shift off left-
hander Andrew Miller.
The insurance RBI was
the Dodgers’ 225th with two
outs this season — three
more than the Dodgers (76-
40) generated last season
and most in the National
League.
“Our hitting guys have
done a great job, just talking
about putting together good
at-bats and not trying to go
for the long ball,” Roberts
said.
The Cardinals took ad-
vantage of Kershaw’s depar-
ture in the eighth inning to
generate their first scoring
threat since the second
frame.
Adam Kolarek, called on
to specifically face the left-
handed-hitting KoltenWong, induced a weak
ground ball to the left side,
but the Dodgers, in a shift,
left the area uncovered and
Wong reached on a single.
Pedro Baez was sum-
moned and got Dexter Fowl-
er to pop out before giving
up a single to Jose Martinez,
putting runners on the cor-
ners with one out. The dan-
gerous Paul Goldschmidt
lined out to short before
Baez walked Marcell Ozuna
on a 3-2 pitch to load the
bases.
Dodger Stadium stirred,
anxiety suddenly stuffing
the ballpark. Baez remained
stoic as Paul DeJong
stepped into the batter’s
box. Baez pounded the
strike zone, and DeJong
whiffed on the sixth pitch of
the encounter, a 97-mph
fastball up the ladder.
“I simply focused on
throwing my best pitch,
which is my fastball,” Baez
said in Spanish, “and I tried
to locate it in a good spot.”
Kenley Jansen closed it
out for his 26th save, striking
out Wong with Knizner on
first.Fowler, hitting .370
against Kershaw before the
game, continued giving him
problems Tuesday. The cen-
ter fielder led the game off
with a double and added a
leadoff single in the third in-
ning. Fowler, however, was
stranded both times. In-
stead, the Cardinals scored
the game’s first run off Ker-
shaw in the second inning.
DeJong swatted a leadoff
double before Matt Car-
penter stepped to the plate.
Carpenter, sporting a .212
batting average, showed
bunt twice, including once
with two strikes, before de-
ciding to swing away. The
puzzling at-bat ended with
Carpenter roping the next
pitch down the right-field
line for an RBI single.
To that point, with one
out in the second inning, the
Cardinals had more hits
(three) and runs (one) than
they generated in their loss
Monday. They appeared
poised to snap out of an of-
fensive funk. But Kershaw
retired 12 straight batters af-
ter allowing the leadoff sin-
gle to Fowler in the third.QUALITY STARTSand Clayton Kershaw have gone together all season, and the Dodgers’ left-hander came
up with another strong effort Tuesday night, giving up one run in seven innings as his ERA dropped to 2.77.
Luis Sinco Los Angeles TimesPederson makes a big catch
[Dodgers, from D1]