With two outs in the top of the first inning of Monday night’s 10-4 Dodgers loss to the National League Central second-place Chicago Cubs in front of a sold out Dodger Stadium crowd of 50,495, 30-year-old Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler served up a 96-mph four-seam fastball that extremely popular former Dodger Cody Bellinger absolutely crushed, sending it 430 feet into the Right Field Pavilion to give the Northsiders a (very) early 2-0 lead. It was Belly’s 16th round-tripper of the season and good for his 62nd and 63 RBIs on the season.
“Yeah, it was just, you know, it felt good and Walker’s my boy,” a smiling Bellinger said postgame of his monster blast that landed three quarters of the way up the RFP. “It was my first at-bat off him, so, it was just… it was a good time,” he added.
When the Dodgers didn’t resign (then free agent) Bellinger following the 2022 season, there were a lot of very upset Dodger fans, and understandably so. After all, the then 27-year-old Scottsdale, AZ native and Dodgers fourth-round draft pick in 2013 out of Hamilton High School in Chandler, AZ was a two-time All Star, the 2017 Rookie of the Year, a two-time Silver Slugger, and a Gold Glove winner. However, he was also a client of noted sports agent Scott Boras, who is considered by many to be the most powerful man in baseball and has been referred to as The Baseball Antichrist.
As for Buehler, his loss on Monday was his fifth of the season (with one win) and was his 13th start of the season as he works his way back from arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow – this after having two Tommy John surgeries. He finished his 5.0 innings of work having allowed five runs on nine hits (including two home runs), while striking out four and walking one of the 23 Cubs batters he faced. He also saw his ERA soar to an un-Buehler-like 5.95 on the season.
“Obviously, three runs in the first can kind of suck the energy out of the building. The first inning’s been a little weird for me this year,” Buehler said postgame. “It’s a lot to ask of the rest of our guys to dig me out of a hole every game.”
There were some good things that happened for the Dodgers on Monday. International superstar and future Hall of Famer Shohei Ohtani stole his 47th base of the season in his pursuit of 50 stolen bases and 50 home rus in 2024 (he has 46 home runs). Fellow future Hall of Famer Mookie Betts also slugged his 17th home run of the season, a two-run shot to left in the bottom of the seventh, to make it a then 7-4 ballgame.
(SportsNet LA)
Unfortunately for Buehler and his team, the Dodgers played this all-to-familiar (and painful) tune on Monday:
As we all know, LOB = Loss.
But today’s a new day, and despite their loss on Monday, the Dodgers remain in first place in the NL West, so there’s that.
Play Ball!
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